Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, and Robert Downey Jr. call themselves the “OppenHomies.” That’s the group chat where members of the Oppenheimer cast used to trade gossip, insults, and strategic communiques when not together on set, and where they chat now when not reunited at awards events. Filmmaker Christopher Nolan, however, is not included in this special club. Not because he’s the director and, therefore, their boss, but for a practical reason: “He doesn’t have a phone,” Blunt explains.
In Vanity Fair’s video oral history of Oppenheimer, none of the three stars hold back—ribbing Nolan for his idiosyncrasies while hailing how he tackled this sprawling historical epic. The trio spoke on the afternoon immediately after Oppenheimer dominated at the Golden Globes, and each of them remains in the Oscar hunt. Murphy stars as Oppenheimer, the stoic physicist who became known as the father of the atomic bomb. Blunt plays his staunchly protective wife, Kitty, while Downey plays his political nemesis, the calculating Atomic Energy Commission bureaucrat Lewis Strauss.
Yes, many of the rumors about Nolan’s sets are true. The director doesn’t allow extra chairs in the vicinity of filming, to literally keep his actors on their toes. There’s no lounging, no trailers where they can retreat. Phones aren’t allowed either. “If I see Chris Nolan, I throw my phone,” Downey says.
“Still—to this day!” Blunt agrees.
That forced focus led these actors to their most intense and acclaimed work; it also bonded them as well. “He’s not like one of those dads that you’re afraid of,” says Downey. “It’s more like…to have the word ‘disappointed’ uttered would be the most crushing blow.”
Murphy—who has worked with Nolan on Dunkirk, Inception, and all three films in his Batman Dark Knight trilogy—relates the unusual way the filmmaker draws an actor into a project. “He flies wherever you are and gives you the actual script himself in person. And it’s always printed on red paper with black ink. And [Oppenheimer] was a tome. It was a door stopper of a thing,” he says.
Why the strangely colored pages? “I think it’s to prevent against photocopying,” Murphy says. “Because Chris probably does possess a photocopier.”
“And a fax,” Blunt adds.
Downey confesses that Nolan made him drive to Nolan’s house in Los Angeles to read the script—which is how Downey’s wife knew that was going to say yes to the role of Lewis Strauss. “Unlike these two sycophants, my first reaction was, ‘I’m not going east of La Brea,’” Downey jokes. “I was told [by my team], ‘If this is your opening salvo, we can’t help you with the rest of your career.’ And I said, ‘All right, how far east of La Brea?’”
Switching to earnest mode, Downey acknowledges that even for seasoned veterans like him, getting asked to do a Nolan film is a unique compliment. “It is kind of an event just to get the call,” he says.
“And private, in a lovely way,” adds Blunt. “Usually everyone’s in the know, and your agents and your team, and all the producers know, and that’s being discussed by people. There’s sort of the chatter and the noise around putting a project together. This feels really distinctive and calm and private and peaceful.”
“And reasonable,” Murphy says. “The thing I should say as well is that every time Chris has called me, I’ve always said yes before I’ve read the script. So it’s just a formality, really, reading the script.”
“Can we pause for a second?” Downey says. “He calls you for the title character—and even just those four syllables together, you go, ‘Wow, this is heady stuff. This is important stuff.’ And he’s come to Dublin, so this is not the youzhe. [That’s Downey-speak for “usual.”] I’m sure he didn’t come to Dublin for your four days on Dunkirk.”
Then Downey catches himself: “Or did he?”
Murphy mulls it a moment and says, “I think his mom dropped me the script for Dunkirk…”
“Oh, God, stop it,” Blunt groans in response to Murphy’s obvious “favored nation” status.
“But seriously, you realized this is for the lead in this. It’s kind of like his whole career has been leading to this film, both yours and his,” Downey says to Murphy.
“I believe so. Certainly for Chris,” Murphy answers. “It was huge. Before I had actually read it, when we discussed it on the phone, I knew it was a huge part.”