While Christopher Nolan isn't exactly known for making short films, his next feature will be the longest yet from the director. In the newest issue of Total Film, Nolan reveals that Oppenheimer is officially his longest movie yet, surpassing the previous record held by Interstellar with its runtime of 2 hours and 49 minutes. Nolan says Oppenheimer is closer to three hours long, beating Insterstellar in length, albeit not by much.
"It's slightly longer than the longest we've done... It's kissing three hours," Nolan says.
Matt Damon, who plays a key role in the film, previously teased that it would be a three-hour movie. That coincided with unconfirmed reports that the movie had clocked in at an even three hours with its runtime. Nolan's new comments seem to suggest that the film will run just hour the three-hour mark, but will be close enough to "kiss" it, as the director put it. Despite its length, however, Damon also teased that the film goes by quickly as it's that engaging.
“It’s three hours," Damon told Variety about the film in March. "It’s fantastic. Cillian [Murphy] is phenomenal. He’s everything you would want him to be. I think it’s almost three hours. It goes so fast, it’s great.”
Christopher Nolan Tells the Story of J. Robert Oppenheimer
Written and directed by Nolan, Oppenheimer is based on the true story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the man who's been referred to as the "father of the atomic bomb." To truly capture the authenticity of making a film about the atomic bomb and the person who was most instrumental in developing the world's first nuclear weapon, Nolan cast real scientists to play extras, just to have that wealth of knowledge on the set. He also insisted on creating the explosion used for the atomic bomb in the movie with practical effects instead of CGI
"I think recreating the Trinity test without the use of computer graphics was a huge challenge to take on," Nolan previously told Total Film. "Andrew Jackson – my visual effects supervisor, I got him on board early on – was looking at how we could do a lot of the visual elements of the film practically, from representing quantum dynamics and quantum physics to the Trinity test itself, to recreating, with my team, Los Alamos up on a mesa in New Mexico in extraordinary weather, a lot of which was needed for the film, in terms of the very harsh conditions out there – there were huge practical challenges."
Cillian Murphy stars in the film as Nolan's Oppenheimer. The ensemble cast also includes Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Rami Malek, Benny Safdie, Josh Hartnett, Kenneth Branagh, David Dastmalchian, Alden Ehrenreich, Jack Quaid, and Dane DeHaan. Noland produced the film with Emma Thomas and Charles Roven.
Oppenheimer will be released in movie theaters on July 21, 2023. You can view a trailer for the movie below.