Early viewers of the atomic bomb movie ‘Oppenheimer’ were left feeling utterly devastated.

Director Christopher Nolan on Fan Reactions to “Oppenheimer”

Director Christopher Nolan said fan reactions to “Oppenheimer” have been good so far, with many viewers stunned into silence after seeing the highly anticipated drama.

The Story of J. Robert Oppenheimer

The movie tells the story of American scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) and his role in developing the atomic bomb, which was infamously used to end World War II. “Like it or not, J. Robert Oppenheimer is the most important person who ever lived. He made the world we live in, for better or for worse,” Nolan told the crowd at CinemaCon in April.

The director also described the film as a “wild ride” which explored “literally the most dramatic moment in history” during an interview with Wired. 

Nolan noted that some viewers liken the film to the “horror” genre. 

“Some people leave the movie absolutely devastated. They can’t speak. I mean, there’s an element of fear that’s there in the history and there in the underpinnings. But the love of the characters, the love of the relationships, is as strong as I’ve ever done,” Nolan said.

“I showed it to a filmmaker recently who said it’s kind of a horror movie,” he continued. “I don’t disagree…As I started to finish the film, I started to feel this color that’s not in my other films, just darkness. It’s there. The film fights against that.”

“It’s a complicated set of feelings to be entertained by awful things, you know? Which is where the horror dimension comes in,” Nolan told the publication.

The director also discussed how relevant the movie plot is in the modern world. 

“Oppenheimer’s story is all impossible questions. Impossible ethical dilemmas, paradox. There are no easy answers in his story,” Nolan said. 

“There are just difficult questions, and that’s what makes the story so compelling. I think we were able to find a lot of things to be optimistic about in the film, genuinely, but there’s this sort of overriding bigger question that hangs over it. It felt essential that there be questions at the end that you leave rattling in people’s brains, and prompting discussion.”

“Oppenheimer” comes out in theaters on July 21.

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