Why Christopher Nolan’s no VFX policy for Oppenheimer matters?

Christopher Nolan is notoriously popular for making visually stunning films with realistic set designs and authentic props. This is a key part of his repertoire, which he first showcased in The Dark Knight (2008). The British filmmaker is now gearing up for the release of his film Oppenheimer. The film is based on the nuclear physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer and his involvement in the creation of the atomic bomb as part of the Manhattan Project. 

3 things you need to know: 

• Oppenheimer is based on the book American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin.
• It features Peaky Blinders and Inception star Cillian Murphy as the titular character.
• The parts of the film were shot in IMAX on cameras the technical crew themselves invented.

The topic demands that the film shows scenes of the atomic bomb’s explosion. While speaking in a recent interview. Nolan has explained how he achieved this feat without almost any use of VFX being added to the film. 

(Cillian Murphy in a still from the Oppenheimer trailer | Image: UniversalPictures/Instagram)

How Christopher Nolan recreated the ‘Trinity Test?’

While speaking with Empire in a recent interview, Nolan said that the first person he showed the film to was Andrew Jackson, the visual effects supervisor for the film. He explained to the VFX supervisor that the film has to explore what goes on within Robert J. Oppenheimer’s head, and explore the world the way he sees it, including the “waves of energy, the quantum world.”

His major concern was that the film will have to show the dangers of the Trinity test, and all of this needs to be achieved without any VFX. The Interstellar director achieved the feat with considerable practical problems. During another interview, Nolan explained that instead of detonating live bombs, they used arrangements called “big-atures (play on miniatures).” 

(Christopher Nolan during the shoot of Oppenheimer | Image: Oppenheimermovie/Twitter)

He told Slash Film that the visuals are created using gasoline and propane gas. However, to add more shine to them, they use aluminium powder and magnesium metal. The collective combustion of these elements in different orders yields different results. 

Why it matters for Oppenheimer to feature no VFX?

Hollywood is full of films which thrive predominantly with the use of VFX or CGI. The entirety of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, for example, features extensive use of CGI. While films like Captain Marvel (2019), which featured a lot of CGI, made a killing at the box office, recent films like Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) emerged as critical flops for their over usage of the medium. The Flash, very recently, was a box office bomb and received heavy criticism for its unbalanced and even wonky CGI. 

(A poster for Oppenheimer featuring Cillian Murphy | Image: OppenheimerMovie/Twitter)

On the other hand, films like Skyfall, Mad Max: Fury Road, Casino Royale, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, and 1917 are highly acclaimed and commercially successful films. A lot of them don’t employ the extensive use of the medium, which keeps the stakes high and makes them immersive. 

Top Gun: Maverick very famously features little to no CGI. The actors flew in live jets flown by real pilots, and Tom Cruise himself flew a P-51 in the film. Top Gun 2 went on to become one of the biggest hits of 2022, earning almost $1.5 billion globally. Nolan himself has delivered the Oscar-nominated film The Dark Knight and the highly acclaimed The Dark Knight Rises, both of which are superhero films and feature realistic set designs and practical action scenes. 

(Tom Cruise in a still from Top Gun: Maverick | Image: TopGunMovie/Twitter)

Oppenheimer is also an important story for all of humanity, as atomic bombs have the potential to eradicate large populations instantly. Nolan understands how crucial the story is, and his choice for Oppenheimer to not feature any CGI explosions only goes to show the level of immersion and seriousness he wants the audience to go through.