Oppenheimer Cast on the Creative Freedom of Working with WriterDirector Christopher Nolan
Oppenheimer Cast on the Creative Freedom of Working with WriterDirector Christopher Nolan
Transcript
00:00 - Oh my God, Irish people can't take privilege.
00:02 - I know.
00:03 - He just turned to dust if you're wondering
00:05 where he went.
00:06 (laughing)
00:07 - We're in a race against the Nazis
00:09 and I know what it means if the Nazis have a bomb.
00:12 - How compelled did you feel to try to go deep
00:17 on the world of quantum physics?
00:18 Did you try to understand it at any level?
00:22 - Killian? - We'll start with you.
00:23 - Me? - Yeah.
00:24 (laughing)
00:25 - I figured out pretty quickly
00:28 that it would have been a waste of time
00:31 to try to understand anything significantly
00:34 about quantum mechanics.
00:36 Seriously though, my job was to kind of go after
00:38 the humanity of the character.
00:40 And frankly, there's probably like a tiny percentage
00:43 of people on the planet who can have a proper grasp
00:46 of that level of physics.
00:48 - Chris being one of them.
00:49 - Chris being one of them, yeah.
00:50 I did speak to Kip Thorne, who was this advisor
00:53 on the film, who was also the advisor on "Interstellar".
00:57 And he's great at kind of breaking it down.
01:00 So I had a kind of vague conceptual grasp
01:03 of what was going on, but these guys are operating
01:05 on a completely, completely different level.
01:08 - If we could understand the science to that level,
01:10 that's what we would be doing with our lives.
01:13 Like it really is about trying to get across
01:15 the interpersonal dynamics between these characters.
01:19 What Oppenheimer must have lived.
01:21 Chris, when he came to us with the movie,
01:24 the supporting players, it was very clear.
01:26 The script was written in the first person.
01:28 It was very much Oppenheimer's experience.
01:30 It was through his eyes.
01:32 And he was like, this movie is going to be entirely
01:35 riding on the back of that performance
01:37 and what this person lived with.
01:39 And I need actors in support of that.
01:42 And so that was really our job.
01:44 So we all had different dynamics
01:46 with the Oppenheimer character.
01:47 So we looked at those, for me,
01:48 it was from the military side and Groves, my character,
01:51 ran the Manhattan Project and hired him
01:53 as the scientific director.
01:54 So they had this kind of natural tension
01:57 because they looked at the world in a different way.
01:58 But it was really all about how our characters affected him
02:02 and added to this kind of burden that he had
02:04 and kind of haunted him through his life.
02:07 - Fascinating that you all believe
02:08 that Christopher Nolan understood all of the science.
02:10 Working with him, did you see him more
02:12 as the scientist or the artist?
02:14 Like his films often work right in that fertile territory
02:17 of dreams and technology, science and art.
02:20 - And engineering.
02:21 - And engineering, of course.
02:22 - Yeah, you need to balance all those things
02:24 as a filmmaker, right?
02:24 - That's how I see him or Jim Cameron or those two.
02:26 I've never worked with Cameron,
02:27 but just from looking at his movies,
02:29 they have that bit of engineer in them.
02:31 When you look at Chris's,
02:33 the hallway fight in "Inception"
02:34 and you realize, he realized,
02:35 oh, well, if we build the hallway and then hang it
02:38 and then put them on wires,
02:40 then we can turn it and we can make them.
02:42 He always has some kind of engineering idea.
02:45 And he's always pushing the tech.
02:46 On this, they invented black and white IMAX film.
02:50 - Yeah.
02:50 - Just for the movie.
02:52 Nobody's ever thought to do that.
02:54 And so I think he's like equal part artist
02:57 and engineer maybe.
02:58 - His breadth of abilities are just so vast
03:01 and you feel that.
03:03 I feel like there must've been a hurricane
03:06 going on inside of him during this process,
03:09 none of which you see.
03:10 It's just encased in this very calm exterior
03:13 and you're kind of kept from the chaos
03:14 of what it must've been like to create a film like this.
03:17 But I think he's in equal measures
03:19 just incredibly curious about the artistic pursuit
03:22 that actors go through.
03:23 And he wants to see what you're gonna bring.
03:24 You just feel every day, he was like,
03:27 what else, what else?
03:28 Show me, show me, show me.
03:29 It's just sort of wonderfully freeing
03:32 to work with someone like that,
03:33 who's as invested in what you can bring
03:36 as he is in the engineering and the structure of the film.
03:39 So, I mean, I just think there's no one who can do that.
03:42 Like he's so groundbreaking in that way.
03:45 - Yeah, I mean, like a David Lean or a Hitchcock,
03:48 there's this mystique.
03:49 And I knew that Murphy was on the inside
03:52 'cause he was kind of, you know,
03:54 they're all thick as thieves.
03:55 And I think for Emily and I'll speak for myself,
03:58 it was this real kind of intimidation factor.
04:00 And then once you're there doing it,
04:03 arguably one of the least judgmental directors
04:06 I've ever experienced.
04:08 So it's not about control, it's about precision.
04:11 And so it really kind of created a whole new neuro pathway
04:15 in my mind of how I've related
04:17 to that projection of director.
04:19 - So was that the status thing?
04:20 - Yes, yes.
04:21 - I think that's the weirdest thing about,
04:23 weird or I don't know if unique,
04:25 maybe most unique thing is that like,
04:27 he's got this incredible ambitious vision
04:29 and yet he doesn't visit any of that on you.
04:32 You have total creative freedom
04:33 and he's genuinely interested, like Em was saying,
04:36 in what you're gonna do.
04:37 And so it's like he gets the best out of everybody
04:40 he's collaborating with and somehow bakes that
04:42 into his vision and all the boats kind of rise
04:45 rather than kind of--
04:46 - That's the engineering.
04:47 - Yeah.
04:48 - I think it's almost like an engineering of the humans
04:52 because all the rest of the stuff, trust me,
04:53 you will never be on a set that is more dialed in.
04:56 - Right.
04:57 - To the point where the only thing
04:58 that could go wrong is us.
04:59 - Right.
05:00 (laughing)
05:01 - Which is weird 'cause usually everything else
05:02 is chaotic and we're the comet, the eye of the storm.
05:05 Now hold on now, let's get this master.
05:07 (laughing)
05:10 - You know, as an actor with an improvisational background,
05:14 is that something that you could bring to this?
05:15 Is that something that he looks for as well,
05:17 that he's looking to find something?
05:19 - He's not looking for it or not looking for it.
05:21 He did say, "Robert, you seem to be doing
05:23 "a lot of improv out there.
05:25 "If you get scared out there,
05:27 "just float gently back to the text."
05:29 (laughing)
05:30 And I was like, it wasn't a Jedi mind trick.
05:33 He wasn't guffing me.
05:35 Again, he's kind of like a dad that you can't have a beef
05:38 with 'cause he's actually just a really good parent.
05:41 - Yeah.
05:42 - That was the most disconcerting of all the energies
05:45 'cause I had no previous experience with that.
05:46 (laughing)
05:48 - You love having beef with dad.
05:50 (laughing)
05:50 - Well, now I have to ask,
05:51 did you get scared out there at any point?
05:53 Was there something that--
05:54 - No.
05:55 - Yeah, I was having a ball.
05:56 - You and Christopher Nolan are thick as thieves,
05:58 but it took six films in 20 years
06:00 for him to give you a leading role.
06:01 Is that something that you feel you're in the long run for?
06:04 I mean, this process went pretty well.
06:06 (laughing)
06:07 - Well, these guys.
06:08 - Yeah, yeah.
06:09 - Oh, us?
06:09 - Are you in it for--
06:11 - Well, he gave me a small part on "Interstellar"
06:13 then he put me on ice for a couple movies.
06:15 - Yeah.
06:16 (laughing)
06:17 - So I don't know.
06:18 - Well, he put you on ice before you were in "Interstellar"
06:19 as well.
06:19 - That's true.
06:20 So I don't know.
06:21 I'm very confused about my status.
06:22 (laughing)
06:24 I'm available.
06:25 (laughing)
06:27 - Matt, don't be too desperate.
06:28 - I think the thing is--
06:29 - I'm sorry, I'm not available.
06:30 - When Chris calls, I think any actor would go, "Yeah."
06:33 - Whatever you want.
06:34 - Yeah, whatever you want.
06:35 - Whatever you want.
06:35 - Whatever size you want.
06:36 - But like he was saying,
06:38 Chris himself said he doesn't write with actors in mind
06:40 because he goes, "If I write with an actor in mind,
06:42 "then I'm already limiting what the movie can be
06:44 "because I'm thinking of something they've already done."
06:46 So, who knows, you know?
06:48 - But he is adapting a book that has a striking resemblance
06:51 to you on the cover of it.
06:53 - I wonder how soon into writing it
06:55 he started thinking about you, though.
06:56 I just think there's a part of me that just feels like,
06:58 "Who else can play that part?"
07:00 - But it was funny.
07:01 I think a lot of us ended up looking like the characters.
07:06 - Worryingly.
07:06 - Yeah, worryingly like the characters.
07:09 You know, we kind of ended up--
07:09 - You mean like, owners start looking like their pets?
07:12 - Yeah, kind of.
07:13 - That's it. (laughs)
07:14 - When I saw that first--
07:16 - That was it, the one in the production office.
07:18 The blown up picture of Gillian.
07:20 - An empty panel board.
07:23 - Yeah.
07:24 - One picture of you.
07:25 - With the cigarette.
07:26 - I was like, "Oh, this is it."
07:27 - "Oh, we're done."
07:28 - We're done.
07:28 - Except then again, we're not on the board yet.
07:31 And our pictures have to go.
07:32 So it was this weird thing of, again,
07:34 not intimidation of that self-centered actor ego fear,
07:38 but more like rising to an occasion.
07:40 But like, "Oh wow, I hate to use the I word,"
07:42 but you're like, "This is important."
07:45 Whether you're gonna show up for this important thing
07:47 or not, and man, I have never in my whole life
07:50 seen someone do what you did.
07:52 - Yeah.
07:53 - And I think we would all attest to that.
07:54 - Yeah, for sure.
07:55 - Yeah, we're just the same.
07:56 - Oh my God, Irish people can't take pride.
07:58 - I know, he just wants to go completely in,
08:01 he just turned to dust if you're wondering where he went.
08:04 (laughs)
08:06 You're like, "Moving on."
08:07 - Thank you, please move on.
08:09 - Please move on.
08:09 - But then the subject matter is the I word as well,
08:12 is so important.
08:13 Was that daunting beyond just trying to rise
08:17 to the occasion with Christopher Nolan?
08:19 - No, it's knowing that Chris Nolan's making the story
08:21 and we're in it.
08:22 And so it wasn't daunting at all for me.
08:24 It was like, to me, it was like,
08:25 this is the appropriate director match
08:27 to this incredibly important story.
08:29 Like this is an obvious marriage made in heaven
08:31 and we're the kids in the middle of it.
08:34 And so it wasn't daunting at all.
08:37 - But I don't know how Killian didn't lose his mind.
08:39 - No, no, no, for sure.
08:40 - You looked at the schedule, we would pop in and out
08:43 and you were there.
08:45 You were never not there.
08:46 And none of us really know,
08:48 we know in parts what the experience are,
08:50 but even just, if you just talk about it in terms of a lift,
08:53 how?
08:55 Just give us a little about how.
08:56 - But you know, you get into a kind of a rhythm.
08:59 You get that kind of rhythm when you're in every single day
09:01 and you don't think about anything else
09:02 and it just consumes you.
09:04 It's all you live and breathe.
09:05 - Like a full possession.
09:06 - Yeah, it's kind of like if you're in this,
09:08 yeah, it is kind of like a little bit like a possession.
09:10 But it was the best.
09:11 I mean, coming to work and you look at the calls,
09:14 you know, oh my God, I got a scene with Downey tomorrow,
09:15 then I got a scene with Madden,
09:17 I got a scene with Emily,
09:18 and then a scene with Gary Oldman.
09:19 It was, I mean, what actor wouldn't?
09:20 That's just a dream job.
09:23 And of course, you've got the best people in the world,
09:26 you've got to just raise your game every time.
09:28 It was just a game.
09:28 - But stamina, stamina and talent is crazy.
09:32 And how you did it eating a celery stick a day,
09:34 I don't know.
09:35 (laughing)
09:36 I do not know how you did it.
09:37 - There's usually a target weight that you hit.
09:40 (laughing)
09:41 And then, you know, the shirt's off
09:42 or you're in this certain, you know,
09:43 gown or whatever, and then you relax a little bit.
09:46 - No.
09:47 - This was, as we crept, there was no day
09:49 that you weren't still on a mission
09:50 because they were shooting as much in sequence as possible.
09:53 So we also saw--
09:54 - He grew more and more emaciated.
09:55 - What you also did, my brother,
09:56 was you hosted this for everyone else
09:59 because the fish stinks from the head.
10:01 And if you come in and Killian's in a bit of a mood
10:05 because don't you know all the pressure he's under
10:06 and he just had to, you know, do a lecture in Dutch
10:09 the day before and now he's gotta do this five scene
10:11 and you're just in scene two.
10:12 That's where I really think you really, really--
10:17 - Was that deliberate one foot in front of the other.
10:20 - One foot in front of the other.
10:20 - Yeah, that's all it is.
10:21 - You know what I mean?
10:22 But it was just--
10:23 - But I think, you say the kindest words,
10:25 but I think it was just the atmosphere on set
10:27 was that everyone was there for the work.
10:29 Like, completely, you know.
10:30 There's no trailers, there's no, like, hierarchy.
10:33 Everyone's just there to do good work.
10:35 And that's because of Chris.
10:36 That's the atmosphere he creates, you know?
10:38 And we all felt that it could be something
10:41 really, really special.
10:41 I think we all felt that, you know?
10:43 - How has your relationship with Christopher evolved?
10:46 Has he changed as a filmmaker, his approach?
10:48 - No, I mean, I think he's just refining
10:50 and refining his vision.
10:52 You know, I think this film might be his kind of magnum opus.
10:55 You know, I think it's absolutely a stunning,
10:57 stunning piece of work.
10:58 What he's doing within the language of film,
11:01 I think nobody else is doing like he's doing it
11:03 and he makes it for the theaters.
11:05 He makes it for that collective experience
11:08 of strangers sitting in the dark
11:09 and watching this thing and being transported.
11:12 You know, nobody really does it like him.
11:14 And it's just terrifically satisfying
11:17 to be involved in it.
11:18 - It does feel so different.
11:20 The pace is almost dizzying.
11:22 Every scene, you know, you're talking about
11:23 these great scenes that you're getting to do,
11:24 but they're so short.
11:25 Did that feel different as far as, like,
11:28 the approach to making it?
11:29 - We shot really fast, right?
11:30 I mean, we shot in, like, 57 days or something.
11:33 We were going all over America.
11:34 It was just like this train.
11:36 But I have never seen a crew work like that.
11:38 The crew work, unbelievable.
11:40 Like, he works unbelievably fast,
11:41 but then when you're actually doing the scenes--
11:43 - You don't feel rushed.
11:44 - You don't feel ever, ever, ever rushed.
11:46 No, no, no.
11:47 And they feel somehow intimate.
11:48 Like, Hoyt has this ability to operate
11:50 this giant IMAX camera and put it on his shoulder.
11:54 And because you're kind of all sitting around talking,
11:57 suddenly Hoyt has got the camera up
11:58 and suddenly the scene's kind of happening
12:00 and it doesn't feel like--
12:02 - It's declining.
12:03 - It's like, "Okay, everybody, we're gonna do this now."
12:05 - It's just kind of, it just starts to happen.
12:07 - And back to Chris's approach, I never saw a mark.
12:09 - Oh, no, no way.
12:10 - Now, sometimes you'll do that
12:12 because things are hyper-specific
12:14 and then you have freedom within it.
12:15 As long as you hit that mark, it's cool,
12:16 but it was always like, "I'm not even,
12:18 "we're not even doing that."
12:19 And that was another kind of surprise
12:23 from what my projection might have been, you know?
12:26 - Yeah, and there was no cranes,
12:27 there was no steady cam.
12:28 They kind of stripped it all back
12:30 to the most kind of basic toys, you know,
12:32 which was mostly dollies, right?
12:33 - Yeah.
12:34 - And then one camera for most of it.
12:36 It was just amazing to watch those guys work.
12:38 - But I do agree, the pace of it,
12:40 like the velocity of it when I saw it
12:42 was just dizzying and jarring.
12:45 It was so, like this runaway train
12:49 and you kind of never want to get in front of it.
12:51 - Which is his brain.
12:52 - Oh, it's amazing.
12:53 - Yeah, no, it's Chris's brain,
12:55 but it's Oppenheimer's brain.
12:56 - Yeah, yeah.
12:57 - Carrying you through this story.
12:59 (dramatic music)