Warner Bros. Pictures
The heart of Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” is undoubtedly the recreation of the Trinity test, in which the first atomic bomb was detonated.
Ahead of the film, it was revealed that Nolan had opted to recreate the event without the use of CG visual effects, opting instead to find a way to do it in-camera instead.
No, Nolan didn’t detonate a real nuclear bomb. However, he and his team tried every possible technique to convincingly recreate a nuclear explosion for the feature film’s central 10-minute sequence.
Speaking to Variety, cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema said that even before he signed, it was understood Nolan would want to shoot the scene on camera as it would avoid a common visual effects issue:
“We are thrilled with the absolute depth of resolution that IMAX offers us. But when you go to VFX, you have to scan it, and the moment you do that, it loses half its resolution.”
Nolan and van Hoytema worked closely with special effects supervisor Scott Fisher and visual effects supervisor Andrew Jackson to find ways to make everything work:
“We conducted scientific experiments. We built aquariums with electricity. We threw in silver particles. We had shaped metal balloons that were lit from within.
With us, things would hit each other, such as table tennis balls, or objects would simply rotate.
We had slow shutter speeds, fast shutter speeds, wide negative colors, negative overexposure, underexposure. It was like a giant playground for all of us.
The Trinity test was something that was cobbled together from the miniatures of this scientific experiment under the guidance of Chris and I and that we slowly pushed in specific directions to serve specific functions in those sequences.”
Van Hoytema says the sequence took several weeks to film, but how the final elements came together is being kept secret for now.
Nolan has become synonymous with his need to do everything practically and on camera, and that has become something of a trademark for him, like symmetrical compositions for Wes Anderson or explosions and American flags for Michael Bay.
In a recent joint interview with Wired, “Oppenheimer” actor Robert Downey Jr. joked that if Nolan had directed “The Avengers” in 2012, his refusal to use CG meant filming would still happen. Nolan amusingly shot back, “Would you be willing to hop in one of those jetpacks that make them real?”