Oppenheimer’s latest trailer pits theory against reality
The newest trailer for Christopher Nolan's drama about the "father of the atomic bomb" begins with Josh Peck and ends with a countdown to mass destruction
Film News Oppenheimer
No one becomes death, destroyer of worlds without a little help from their friends. After initial teasers for Christopher Nolan’s long-awaited historical drama Oppenheimer focused closely on the “father of the atomic bomb” J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) himself, a new trailer widens the scope, exploring the vast range of individuals who came into play as one of the most consequential ideas in human history became a tangible, terrifying thing.
The film’s latest teaser finally begins to reveal the more linear aspects of the atomic bomb creation story, which has its roots in an American desire to prevent the Nazis from obtaining an atomic bomb. Working alongside Manhattan Project director Lieutenant General Leslie Groves (Matt Damon) and the U.S. Army, Oppenheimer rushes to create and test the atomic bomb, crafting an isolated makeshift New Mexico town where scientists and their families can live uninterrupted as work on the bomb continues.
While Oppenheimer is the esoteric, stony-faced theorist of the film (he’s referred to as the “great improviser”), Groves has more material concerns: namely, whether or not the bomb will lead to the destruction of the entire world. Oppenheimer’s answer to that question—that the chances of mass extinction via nuclear explosion are “near zero”— doesn’t exactly satisfy. But the dream of (as Oppenheimer puts it) ensuring “a peace mankind has never seen,” takes precedence, ultimately begetting a devastating end to WWII that cost hundreds of thousands of civilian lives.
Aside from introducing Damon as Groves, the new trailer also offers first glimpses at characters like businessman and naval officer Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr.), Oppenheimer’s wife Kitty (Emily Blunt), physicists Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh) and Isidor Isaac Rabi (David Krumholtz, and even Albert Einstein (Tom Conti). Oppenheimer’s heavyweight cast also includes Rami Malek, Benny Safdie, Michael Angarano, Josh Hartnett, Kenneth Branagh, Dane DeHaan, Dylan Arnold, Alden Ehrenreich, Matthew Modine, Jack Quaid, Josh Peck, Devon Bostick, Alex Wolff, Gary Oldman, Casey Affleck, Tony Goldwyn, and more.
Oppenheimer premieres in theaters on July 21.
16 Comments
Did I hear that right? Did Nolan actually write the line, “How about it’s the most important thing to happen in the history of the world?” Did Matt Damon actually say that?
It’s not that bad of a line. I’ve heard techbros say something similar for an app for God’s sake. I think there was a pretty good case for saying it in the example of the Manhattan Project.
Yes.I just hope there’s two janitors with hillbilly accents, in the corner of that scene in the final movie who list a bunch of other more important stuff while Damon just stares at them with his mouth open.“Comin’ down from the trees, walkin’ upright. That was pretty important.”“Written word.”“Oh, yeah, and the printin’ press.”“Plumbin’! Plumbin’s important.”“Agriculture, too. The transition from a purely hunter-gatherer existence to one where mankind was able to take control over his environment and adapt it to produce food – rather than havin’ to adapt hisself to find it – is arguably the foundation of all civilisation, ‘cause it allowed humans to settle in one place, secure resources into the future, and thus devote more time to pursuits other than simple survival was a big one.”“And let us not forget the sociological changes – just as important as the technological ones. Democracy, both as practiced by the ancient Greeks who developed the practice and it revival in the early modern period which moved societies away from a monarchic, hereditary system of governance to one in which citizen had the mean to steer the ship of state in which they all sailed, so to speak, which created a more cohesive nation-state that is much more stable as all citizens are invested in it’s well-being and success.”
I mean, in total fairness, the development of the atom bomb is almost certainly up there.
Development of the atomic bomb (before the Nazis managed it) and the end of the biggest war the world had ever seen which had already killed 50 million people (a little more than 2% of the entire human population), at least half of them civilians.Yup, that’s right up there with sliced bread.
The Nazis weren’t close to developing it, although of course Americans didn’t know that back then.
Thank you – of the few books I’ve listened to on this (including Sam Kean’s entertaining ‘The Bastard Brigade’), the Nazis were not in the running for the most part, although that won’t make entertaining cinema. I see that they’ve cast Heisenberg so expect we’ll see some fluff up of that storyline.
1. Yes2. Yes.3. Yes.If you disagree, I’d love to hear why.
Can’t fuckin’ wait.
>ultimately begetting a devastating end to WWII that cost hundreds of thousands of civilian lives.Worth it.
Jean Tatlock wasn’t a physicist, she was a psychiatrist.
Nolan loves dealign with time and perception, i can’t wait to see this movie and if he brings those elements into the it. It does make me miss the tv series Manhattan.
Jean Tatlock was not a physicist. She was a psychiatrist (and, fitting stereotypes about doctors’ specialties, mentally troubled herself).
And maybe ,possibly killed herself (but was a Commie and the Feds might have done it) so we get frowny faced Flo again
No one becomes death, destroyer of worlds without a little help from their friends.And/or small, adorable dogs.
The tv series “Manhattan”, which I believe is still on FreeVee or one of the free apps on Amazon, is a great retelling of this story. It’s somewhat fictionalized as far as the characters, but it does a pretty good job making you feel the dread of how the Atomic Bomb was going to affect all of us down the road. There were Americans pushing the notion that the Germans were closer than they actually were to developing the bomb, so as to keep the Administration funding the project. One of the characters keeps track of the deaths in the Pacific theater during the summer of 1945, hoping the bomb can finally stop the war. The “town”, Los Alamos, that was built for the scientists and engineers and their families was bonkers, and Manhattan drives home the point of how it affected people. It also deals with the racism involving the Native Americans who lived in that area, the paranoia, etc. It’s worth a watch. The cast is phenomenal. Who doesn’t want to see Ashley Zukerman (Shiv Roy’s boyfriend) play another asshole? Also Olivia Williams, Rachel Brosnahan, Katja Herbers, John Benjamin Hickey, Daniel Stern, David Harbour, Richard Schiff. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_(TV_series)