The major hype surrounding Christopher Nolan’s biographical thriller, Oppenheimer, before its release, was the execution of the Trinity test in the film. The Inception director revealed that he did not use Computer Generated Imagery for the scene and instead went for practical effects to recreate the scene. The Trinity test was the core of Nolan’s story as it marked the culmination of the Manhattan Project and J. Robert Oppenheimer’s efforts.
While the exact nature of how the nuclear blast was recreated still remains a mystery, both Christopher Nolan and the cast and crew have provided some behind-the-scenes insights. The latest revelation is about how the Memento director realistically recreated the shockwaves sent by the blast.
Christopher Nolan’s Recreation Of The Trinity Test
Christopher Nolan’s filmmaking technique was at its peak when he recreated the historic experiment that changed the world’s power dynamics. The Trinity test was conducted to check the viability of Robert Oppenheimer’s complex design for the Fat Man atom bomb, just a month before it was dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Hoyte van Hoytema, the cinematographer of Oppenheimer, revealed that their decision to capture the Trinity test authentically on camera was driven by Nolan’s and his wish to use the absolute resolution depth offered by IMAX. Although a real atomic bomb was not detonated, Nolan, in collaboration with van Hoytema, special effects supervisor Scott Fisher, and visual effects supervisor Andrew Jackson, used a combination of techniques after conducting various experiments.
The effects along with the actors’ emotions in the scene, especially that of Cillian Murphy, made the Trinity test sequence one of the most well-crafted moments in cinematic history.
Christopher Nolan’s Added Touch To Make The Trinity Test Scene More Authentic
Christopher Nolan also had to recreate the shockwaves that followed the nuclear blast and used air blasters for this purpose. However, one thing The Dark Knight director did to elevate the authenticity of the scene was to hide this element from the actors. The Dunkirk director wanted raw reactions from the actors, therefore, he surprised them when the air blasters went off.
Josh Peck, who played the role of American physicist Kenneth Bainbridge in the film, definitely got a taste of Nolan’s practical filmmaking. Peck said, “It was wild. That was the red-letter day for me, I went home kind of feeling electric.”
This is not the first time the Insomnia director went to great lengths to get the shots he wanted. Earlier, Nolan blew up a Boeing 747 for a scene in Tenet and he also overturned a full-size truck for The Dark Knight.
Oppenheimer is successfully running in theaters collecting over $668M in box office to date. The film features Cillian Murphy in the titular role alongside Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr, and Florence Pugh.
Source: Twitter
