Christopher Nolan has finally weighed in on the “Oppenheimer” runtime, confirming to Total Film magazine that it is his longest movie to date. The director’s confirmation means “Oppenheimer” at least runs longer than 2 hours and 49 minutes. That was the runtime on “Interstellar,” the director’s longest movie until “Oppenheimer.” Previous reports pegged the “Oppenheimer” runtime at three hours, which Nolan said is almost true.
“It’s slightly longer than the longest we’ve done,” Nolan said. “It’s kissing three hours.”
“Oppenheimer” stars Nolan’s frequent collaborator Cillian Murphy as theoretical physicist and “father of the atomic bomb” J. Robert Oppenheimer. The film tracks Oppenheimer as he launches the Manhattan Project and oversees the creation of the atom bomb.
“I think of any character I’ve dealt with, Oppenheimer is by far the most ambiguous and paradoxical,” Nolan told Total Film magazine. “Which, given that I’ve made three Batman films, is saying a lot.”
“The script was so emotional, and it reads like a thriller,” added Emily Blunt, who stars as biologist and Oppenheimer’s wife Katherine. “It’s almost like he’s Trojan-Horsed a biopic into a thriller. It’s really pulse-racing, the whole thing. I was just completely arrested by the story, the portrait of this man, and, I guess, the trauma of a brain like that.”
Joining Murphy and Blunt in the cast are Matt Damon as Manhattan Project director Gen. Leslie Groves Jr. and Robert Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss, a founding commissioner of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. Florence Pugh, Benny Safdie, Michael Angarano, Josh Hartnett, Rami Malek and more also star.
“You realize this is a huge responsibility. He was complicated and contradictory and so iconic,” Murphy has previously said of taking on the character. “But you know you’re with one of the great directors of all time. I felt confident going into it with Chris. He’s had a profound impact on my life, creatively and professionally. He’s offered me very interesting roles and I’ve found all of them really challenging. And I just love being on his sets.”
“Oppenheimer” opens in theaters July 21 from Universal Pictures.