Oppenheimer - General Information
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June 2010
I just finished the book for the second time, and this time I was paying attention to scenes from the man's life, to shots from the trailers, trying to figure out how this could work based on everything we've seen so far.
On one hand, as there's such an enormous cast, one might think that this will be one of those epic biographies spanning decades, and I'm sure to expect some "old age make-ups". But it's still unclear to me what the central aspect of this film will be, as the biography itself - and, might I say, the life of Oppenheimer himself - had at least two important, life-altering events: the Manhattan Project and the 1954 hearings. Both will feature in the film, but I do wonder if one will be more heavily featured than the other. In other words: I wonder if this film will be more about the Manhattan Project, or more about the shameful hearings. Both are plausible, and both could hold enough material for one, epic film. The hearings themselves, the monitoring of Oppenheimer by the FBI and Strauss' (many times) illegal and questionable attempts at influencing the outcome of the hearings could be the basis for a gripping courtroom and political drama in the veins of All the President's Men. But I guess Nolan isn't 100% going down that route, and the trailers suggest that the Manhattan Project will probably play a bigger part of the film.
I am also convinced that the film will take many liberties with the source material, and this can be already seen in the trailer, I think. The Einstein scene, for example, I doubt ever happened, and it is more or less a reimagination of a few separate moments from Oppenheimer's life, packaged into one scene with the somewhat anachronistic introduction of Einstein. Not that I have a problem with that, but I think biography "purists", or those looking for this semi-documentary approach, should expect something that is more cinematic. Maybe this is obvious for most people, but I just wanted to point it out. The majority of the dialogue that we heard in any of the trailers does not come from the book - they are either from other sources or written by Nolan. So I wonder if Kai Bird's assumption that most of the dialogue of the film comes from the book is true after all... but, obviously, the trailers show, like, 1% of the film, so we'll have to see. As I mentioned before, the only scene that I recognized from the book and was taken almost word to word from the source material is the first scene in the IMAX trailer when Oppenheimer climbs the tower in huge winds.
Bottom line, I think there will be some key scenes that will be adapted verbatim, especially since Oppenheimer himself spoke in an almost cinematic or theatrical way (he was well-read and had an amazing vocabulary). There are many lines spoken by Oppenheimer in the book that were phrased like they were written by a Sorkin-type writer. So, I'm sure Nolan will use some of these profound and highly effective lines from the book. But I also suspect that most scenes will have been written by Nolan loosely based on scenes from the book, from the man's life and reimagined in the most cinematic way possible. Once again, this is usually how biopics work, so nothing new here. Just wanted to share my view that I don't expect this to be 100% faithful to the source material when it comes to exact scenes, scenarios and dialogue.
On one hand, as there's such an enormous cast, one might think that this will be one of those epic biographies spanning decades, and I'm sure to expect some "old age make-ups". But it's still unclear to me what the central aspect of this film will be, as the biography itself - and, might I say, the life of Oppenheimer himself - had at least two important, life-altering events: the Manhattan Project and the 1954 hearings. Both will feature in the film, but I do wonder if one will be more heavily featured than the other. In other words: I wonder if this film will be more about the Manhattan Project, or more about the shameful hearings. Both are plausible, and both could hold enough material for one, epic film. The hearings themselves, the monitoring of Oppenheimer by the FBI and Strauss' (many times) illegal and questionable attempts at influencing the outcome of the hearings could be the basis for a gripping courtroom and political drama in the veins of All the President's Men. But I guess Nolan isn't 100% going down that route, and the trailers suggest that the Manhattan Project will probably play a bigger part of the film.
I am also convinced that the film will take many liberties with the source material, and this can be already seen in the trailer, I think. The Einstein scene, for example, I doubt ever happened, and it is more or less a reimagination of a few separate moments from Oppenheimer's life, packaged into one scene with the somewhat anachronistic introduction of Einstein. Not that I have a problem with that, but I think biography "purists", or those looking for this semi-documentary approach, should expect something that is more cinematic. Maybe this is obvious for most people, but I just wanted to point it out. The majority of the dialogue that we heard in any of the trailers does not come from the book - they are either from other sources or written by Nolan. So I wonder if Kai Bird's assumption that most of the dialogue of the film comes from the book is true after all... but, obviously, the trailers show, like, 1% of the film, so we'll have to see. As I mentioned before, the only scene that I recognized from the book and was taken almost word to word from the source material is the first scene in the IMAX trailer when Oppenheimer climbs the tower in huge winds.
Bottom line, I think there will be some key scenes that will be adapted verbatim, especially since Oppenheimer himself spoke in an almost cinematic or theatrical way (he was well-read and had an amazing vocabulary). There are many lines spoken by Oppenheimer in the book that were phrased like they were written by a Sorkin-type writer. So, I'm sure Nolan will use some of these profound and highly effective lines from the book. But I also suspect that most scenes will have been written by Nolan loosely based on scenes from the book, from the man's life and reimagined in the most cinematic way possible. Once again, this is usually how biopics work, so nothing new here. Just wanted to share my view that I don't expect this to be 100% faithful to the source material when it comes to exact scenes, scenarios and dialogue.
Interesting stuff. Thanks for sharing 
Posts: 1439
Joined:
October 2019
some great points, thank youDHOPW42 wrote: ↑February 27th, 2023, 8:48 amI just finished the book for the second time, and this time I was paying attention to scenes from the man's life, to shots from the trailers, trying to figure out how this could work based on everything we've seen so far.
On one hand, as there's such an enormous cast, one might think that this will be one of those epic biographies spanning decades, and I'm sure to expect some "old age make-ups". But it's still unclear to me what the central aspect of this film will be, as the biography itself - and, might I say, the life of Oppenheimer himself - had at least two important, life-altering events: the Manhattan Project and the 1954 hearings. Both will feature in the film, but I do wonder if one will be more heavily featured than the other. In other words: I wonder if this film will be more about the Manhattan Project, or more about the shameful hearings. Both are plausible, and both could hold enough material for one, epic film. The hearings themselves, the monitoring of Oppenheimer by the FBI and Strauss' (many times) illegal and questionable attempts at influencing the outcome of the hearings could be the basis for a gripping courtroom and political drama in the veins of All the President's Men. But I guess Nolan isn't 100% going down that route, and the trailers suggest that the Manhattan Project will probably play a bigger part of the film.
I am also convinced that the film will take many liberties with the source material, and this can be already seen in the trailer, I think. The Einstein scene, for example, I doubt ever happened, and it is more or less a reimagination of a few separate moments from Oppenheimer's life, packaged into one scene with the somewhat anachronistic introduction of Einstein. Not that I have a problem with that, but I think biography "purists", or those looking for this semi-documentary approach, should expect something that is more cinematic. Maybe this is obvious for most people, but I just wanted to point it out. The majority of the dialogue that we heard in any of the trailers does not come from the book - they are either from other sources or written by Nolan. So I wonder if Kai Bird's assumption that most of the dialogue of the film comes from the book is true after all... but, obviously, the trailers show, like, 1% of the film, so we'll have to see. As I mentioned before, the only scene that I recognized from the book and was taken almost word to word from the source material is the first scene in the IMAX trailer when Oppenheimer climbs the tower in huge winds.
Bottom line, I think there will be some key scenes that will be adapted verbatim, especially since Oppenheimer himself spoke in an almost cinematic or theatrical way (he was well-read and had an amazing vocabulary). There are many lines spoken by Oppenheimer in the book that were phrased like they were written by a Sorkin-type writer. So, I'm sure Nolan will use some of these profound and highly effective lines from the book. But I also suspect that most scenes will have been written by Nolan loosely based on scenes from the book, from the man's life and reimagined in the most cinematic way possible. Once again, this is usually how biopics work, so nothing new here. Just wanted to share my view that I don't expect this to be 100% faithful to the source material when it comes to exact scenes, scenarios and dialogue.
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April 2022
https://variety.com/2023/film/markets-f ... 235539707/Some movies won’t make the transatlantic journey. After “Oppenheimer” cast member Matthew Modine tweeted a poster of the movie with the hashtag #Cannes2023, speculation that the Christopher Nolan feature would debut at the festival intensified. However, Modine quickly deleted his message, and insiders say that “Oppenheimer” will likely premiere somewhere else and closer to its July release date.
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October 2019
Slightly disappointed
Posts: 1519
Joined:
January 2013
Major bummer....the last couple of years Cannes film festival has been a great lunching point for major Hollywood films to go on and have great box office and awards success, including such titles like Parasite, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Top Gun, Elvis, etc.
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December 2019
Has anyone managed to get the trailer from the NFC/AFC Championship games in high quality? The one on Twitter is all I have but it is very low quality
Not a new trailer, just an extract of the prologue.
