Hats: the Oppenheimer fedora

Many may assume that Mattel’s Barbie has the edge when it comes to marketing opportunities. However, as a defining element of Oppenheimer’s persona, the fedora hat is a contending factor for the marketing of Oppenheimer. The hat’s association with the physicist is deeply rooted in history, dating back to Oppenheimer’s time. It exudes sophistication and elegance, perfectly complementing the character’s intellectual persona.

In fact, the fedora hat became so synonymous with Oppenheimer that fans sought to emulate his style as far back as 2010, with one user on thefedoralounge.com searching for a hat like the one worn by the famous nuclear physicist, describing it as “positively atomic.” Nolan’s and Mirojnick’s attention to detail and their understanding of the impact of fashion on character are evident in the choice of the fedora hat, which, combined with Cillian Murphy’s enigmatic portrayal, adds depth and pathos to Oppenheimer’s on-screen presence.

Eyewear: masking the gaze

The film’s attention to authenticity is evident in the choice of eyewear that reflects the 1940s and 50s. The two main styles are the round frames, worn by many of the scientists working on the Manhattan Project, and the Times American Optical glasses, similar to the Ray-Ban Wayfarer, worn by Robert Downey Jr’s Lewis Strauss. These classic designs have proven to be timeless with designer glasses referencing the styles of the 40s and 50s and reimagining them for modern wearers, as shown by the round frames of the Radley from London Retro and the thick top frames of the Remington from Glasses Direct. Glasses can also be crucial in film for adding an air of mystery or impenetrability to a character. This is made most clear through Lewis Strauss, whose motives against Oppenheimer are slowly revealed throughout the film.

Pipes and cigarettes: a pensive persona

Beyond hats and sunglasses, pipes and cigarettes were also essential accessories for characterising Oppenheimer. The act of smoking, particularly with a pipe, adds a pensive and intellectual quality to the characters, further reinforcing the film’s historical setting.

Despite Cillian Murphy’s resolve that he will no longer be playing smokers due to the health issues associated with smoke and tobacco, he admits that portraying the persona of a lifelong nicotine addict was crucial in embodying Oppenheimer. The portrayal of Oppenheimer’s chain-smoking tendencies demands attention to detail in how this accessory is integrated into the character’s behaviour and body language. The act of smoking becomes an integral part of Oppenheimer’s persona, serving as a visual representation of the character’s complexities and internal struggles.

From the iconic fedora hat to the eyewear and the pensive pipes and cigarettes, each accessory is carefully chosen to add depth and nuance to the characters and their stories. By incorporating these key accessories seamlessly into the narrative, Nolan and Mirojnick create a captivating on-screen fashion experience that enhances the overall storytelling, leaving audiences mesmerised by the world of Oppenheimer.

Also Read: Review: Oppenheimer

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What’s Going On?

As World War 2 rumbles on the American government recruits brilliant physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer to build an atomic bomb, a weapon made possible by recent scientific theories. Nazi Germany is also working on this weapon and had a huge head-start over America. Oppenheimer brings together every resource America has to achieve the impossible against an ongoing backdrop of political turmoil, internal conflict and managing a team of brilliant but at times extremely difficult scientists.

In Front Of The Camera

The role of Oppenheimer is played by Cillian Murphy; an actor who has been giving consistently great performances for over 20 years, whether it’s as a charismatic gangster in 1920s Birmingham or a survivor of a zombie apocalypse. Murphy has worked with Nolan before in the Dark Knight series, Inception and Dunkirk. Matt Damon plays Leslie Groves, the military man tasked with getting Oppenheimer what he needs and ensuring this is done in the correct way. Emily Blunt plays Kitty Oppenheimer, wife of the title character, Blunt has played everyone from Mary Poppins to Mech-armour wearing war hero Rita to Fizzelpop Berrytwist. The cast is packed with great actors – Kenneth Branagh, Robert Downey Jr, Florence Pugh, Rami Malek…the list goes on and there is no way to talk about them all here.

Behind The Scenes

Christopher Nolan is one of the most successful directors working today, he has made what is considered by some the greatest superhero film ever made, The Dark Knight as well as brilliant lower-budget films like Memento or The Prestige. He is known for his exacting standards and work ethic, being one of the few directors who can make blockbuster films that aren’t simply formula-driven franchises. The film is based on the 2005 Pulitzer Prize-winning biography American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin.

Does It Work?

Oppenheimer is a great film. The film is structured around two courtroom-esque scenes – Oppenheimer appealing the decision to revoke his security clearance and the Senate approval of Lewis Strauss as position as Commerce Secretary. These are courtroom-esque as neither are trials nor in courtrooms, as is repeatedly made clear. As Oppenheimer is questioned about his past and Strass defends his own actions on his involvement with Oppenheimer. The audience sees Oppenheimer’s life play out starting at university; he studies in Europe (the best place to study quantum mechanics) and then returns to America to teach it. Through the 30s and 40s, the political turmoil of the time is always in the background – the rise of fascism, communism on university campuses and more. Then the central aspect of the film is the Manhattan Project itself, recruiting scientists, getting the resources and building a whole town to house the team. Then there is the aftermath, both Oppenheimer dealing with what he has done, his fame, as an advisor on atomic weapons and the battles over his suitability to advise the government. The film does not have a linear narrative, jumping back and forth between different periods, sometimes seemingly being instigated by questions asked of Oppenheimer or Strauss.

It is shown many times that Oppenheimer is a theoretical physicist, his laboratory work is atrocious, he likes to think about these things, study the theories and data and come up with his own theories. When news reaches the university that German scientists have split the atom Oppenheimer starts working on the mathematics, while a colleague rushes to replicate the results with their equipment. After checking the maths Oppenheimer is reassured it cannot be done, moments later his colleague returns announcing he’s just done it. And this man is put in charge of a truly immense project to turn theory into a practical device that will work in the real world. As mentioned in the film, Einstein wrote a letter to President Roosevelt spelling out the potential of a weapon along the lines of an atomic bomb, and how something as abstract as E = mc2 can lead to such a weapon. A lot of the film is about the interplay of these theoretical concepts, whether it be quantum mechanics or socialism and how they hit the real world.

Murphy is perfectly cast as Oppenheimer and carries the film well, being able to convey the myriad complex motivations of science, politics, love, family, sex, war, and apocalypse that are running through his head at all times. Damon is perfectly fine as Graves, filling in a role seen many times over. Blunt seemingly has little to do with much of the film but has moments, especially in the final third of the film, of blistering strength and courage. There are many great performances, some very minor in terms of screentime, Tom Conti as Albert Einstein, Kenneth Branagh as Niels Bohr, one that is particularly interesting is that of Josh Peck as Kenneth Bainbridge, a physicist who is the person who actually presses the button in the first test of the atomic bomb.

One of the key parts of the film – perhaps the key part- is the moral question about the atomic bomb. Should America build it and then use it? When the question is who should be the first to have one – America or the Nazis – that is Oppenheimer and most of the scientists are comfortable thinking it should be America. But when things become less clear, when the enemy is less obvious, or when thoughts about what bomb comes next, disagreements arise. The whole cast does very well in displaying the competing narratives going on in their heads, especially Murphy, and it is infuriating when characters later in the film interrogate characters about what they were thinking.

Nolan spent a lot of time working on the explosion caused by the atomic bomb, Nolan is well-known for the extreme lengths he will go to for physical effects. Along with this Nolan’s use of sound has been commented on a lot and actually is perhaps more affecting in Oppenheimer than the visuals, a recurring stamping rumbling noise that troubles Oppenheimer, that seems to overwhelm him is incredibly effective.

Oppenheimer could be the film that gets Nolan his first Oscar and it would be well deserved. It is an epic film about an extraordinary life.

Rating: (4 / 5)

Also Read: The Anatomy of a Christopher Nolan Film

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Instinctively I sided with Nolan. I am a huge fan of his work and Oppenheimer looked amazing. The story of J. Robert Oppenheimer the physicist who oversaw the Manhattan Project which created the atomic bomb and would later lament that he had become “Death, destroyer of worlds” is truly epic in scale. And the subject of the opposing film? Barbie – a toy who previous movie work has included Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus 3D and the admittedly fantastically titled Barbie Fairytopia: Mermaidia. Yes, Greta Gerwig had directed the brilliant Lady Bird and the beloved Little Women but this was Barbie. And then I heard the sensational Margot Robbie was playing the lead…and then the wonderful Ryan Gosling was playing Ken…and then I saw the trailer and it looks brilliant. A blinding pink fever dream in which Barbie asks if the other dolls ever thought about dying. Yes, Barbie is about the title character having an existential crisis.

I no longer had a clear favourite. Ultimately my loyalties would lie with Team Oppenheimer but it was hard not to support Team Barbie. And then like Rodan teaming up with Godzilla to fight Mechagodzilla there would be no fight, instead there was “Barbenheimer”. The two films were not enemies and they would band together to defeat the true enemy, and in this unusual metaphor is Transformers. A bizarrely pleasing mashup of the different styles of each film took place online, often combining the doom-laden expressions and mushroom cloud visuals of Oppenheimer with the onslaught of pink that was Barbie.

The trailer for Barbie did something very interesting and it is one of the things that brought me around, it announces itself as a movie for everyone who loves Barbie and a moment later for everyone who hates Barbie. It seems to be trying to appeal to both those who have a genuine love for Barbie (which must be millions and millions of people) and people who have looked at the toy with disdain (another group in the millions and millions). There is a gentle mockery of the fact that toy Barbie wears high heels which means if the shoes are removed the plastic feet still are still arched, the ridiculous outfits like the rollerblading outfits we see Barbie and Ken wearing, and finally speaking of Ken the absolute nothingness he is in the world of Barbie. A tagline for the poster is “She’s Everything. He’s just Ken.” In 2023 it would take a big swing for a live-action Barbie movie to work and that seems to be what Gerwig is doing.

Oppenheimer is on the surface at least a less original film, an epic of a huge figure from history. We see how he’s a genius, the struggles he has, the complications in his life. But this is Christopher Nolan and at the very least the practical effects of the film will be astounding. Even just watching the trailer has managed to capture the dread that generations of people lived with after the end of World War Two, that they lived in a world where humankind had created weapons that could destroy everything and everyone.

Of course, the two being released on the same day would give the opportunity for a double bill of rare quality and the Internet has debated as to what order should you watch the films. It’s hard to say as we don’t know what each film would be like its tempting to think Oppenheimer will be a downer of a film, and there have been reports of audiences leaving screenings of the film feeling like they’ve been through a harrowing experience but perhaps the huge apocalyptic doom will not resonate as much as a character not understanding her place in the world and trying to learn. I would argue for seeing Barbie first if for no other reason as it may be genuinely hard to shake the dread associated with nuclear Armageddon to fully enjoy Barbie.

And what do the respective teams think of all this? Christopher Nolan is thrilled that two big films are opening on the same day and it is generating excitement, with stars Cillian Murphy, Matt Damon and Emily Blunt in agreement. From Team Barbie Gerwig advocates seeing a double bill of Barbie then Oppenheimer, followed by a double bill of Oppenheimer then Barbie to get the full experience. I feel this is good advice.

Also Read: Barbie Reimagined: How the Live-Action Film Could Transform the Iconic Brand

Also Read: The Anatomy of a Christopher Nolan Film

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Today we will look back over their career together to find out why they make such a great pairing. We will also look at their upcoming collaboration, this year’s Oppenheimer.

Murphy and Nolan Begins

Nolan and Murphy first worked together on Batman Begins. In the first movie of the celebrated Dark Knight trilogy, Murphy played Dr. Jonathan Crane aka Scarecrow. The secondary antagonist creates a fear-inducing toxin to help Ra’s al Ghul destroy Gotham. Despite being dispatched rather easily he later returns with his fear drug dealing introducing Batman in The Dark Knight and later becoming a judge left to decide the fate of the rich and the police in The Dark Knight Rises.

Murphy also played Robert Fischer in the sci-fi thriller Inception. The C.E.O. whose mind Cobb and his team are sent to implant an idea inside of. Finally, in Dunkirk, he played the Shivering Soldier who delivered a dire warning to a civilian rescue boat heading to the title beach.

With these roles varying so much in prominence one wonders why Murphy keeps teaming up with Nolan? Well, the reason is simple, Murphy often gives his films the emotional or thematic resonance they need to work.

A Scene Stealer

In the Dark Knight trilogy, Murphy provided one of the first glimpses of the series’ key grounded reimaginings of Batman’s rogues’ gallery. For the film to wholly work, Murphy had to make the monstrous supervillain Scarecrow feel like a real person. But Murphy plays Crane with flawless believability. Outwardly a seemingly passive person who relishes the chance to exert power over others. The perfect counterpoint to Bruce Wayne’s journey and a perfect realistic realisation of the man who loves stoking fear in others.

Murphy also brings subtlety and pathos to Robert Fischer, whose insecurities regarding his relationship with his father provide the basis for Inception’s heist. Murphy’s changes in manner as Cobb and his team slowly work on Fischer’s subconscious is a masterclass in understatement. The ending of Cobb’s story would have been fine alone. However, Murphy’s performance in Fischer’s parallel narrative elevates the emotional impact of the story and the other actors’ work.

Finally, as the Shivering Soldier Murphy is tasked with personifying the horrors suffered in war. He’s there to show the civilian boat the hell they are going into. Murphy does this so successfully that when the civilians head to Dunkirk anyway it makes everything even more impactful.

This is why the pair work so well. Murphy is always able to provide thematically weighty performances that get audiences invested. While through his considered writing and direction Nolan is able to make Murphy’s talents shine.

“My best memories of working on Christopher Nolan films are never the large-scale stuff. It’s the very involved, intensely focused, extremely rigorous work, with Chris right there beside the camera.”

Cillian Murphy, NME

“I’ve always known since I first met him – however many years ago it is now, almost 20 years – that he is one of the great actors, not just of his generation, but of all time.”

Christopher Nolan on Cillian Murphy, Far Out Magazine

Leading Oppenheimer

This year Murphy will finally be leading a Nolan project as the titular J. Robert Oppenheimer, “father of the atomic bomb”. Nolan has certainly picked the perfect lead for Oppenheimer.

Amongst the all-star cast and sure-to-be spectacular effects sequences depicting the trinity bomb test, at its centre will be Murphy who has already demonstrated throughout Nolan’s work that he can lift the incredible work of the actors around him, ground an extraordinary character in reality and embody someone who knows the true face of horror. This coupled with the personal research Murphy has undertaken undoubtedly makes him the best actor to depict the person who helped create one of the most deadly devices in history and who famously quoted, “Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds”?

Also Read: The Anatomy of a Christopher Nolan Film

Your contribution to Big Picture Film Club will allow us to continue to produce content. No matter the amount your contributions are greatly appreciated.

The post Murphy & Nolan: An Underappreciated Duo appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.