That’s why Robert Pattinson isn’t in “Oppenheimer” – although the movie probably wouldn’t have existed without him

It’s not entirely clear how long Christopher Nolan had been toying with the idea of ​​making a biopic about J. Robert Oppenheimer, the “father of the atomic bomb.” The fact is, however, that “Oppenheimer” in its current form would not have come about without the influence of “The Batman” star Robert Pattinson. Nolan recently said so himself in an interview with a moderator and journalist close proximity.

Asked if it’s true that “Oppenheimer” only took shape as a gift from Robert Pattinson (who posed for the director on “Tenet”), Nolan digressed a bit, pointing out that in “Tenet” already Oppenheimer and the so-called Manhattan named. project for the development of the first nuclear weapons to illustrate the scope of the inversion invention in his science fiction masterpiece: “I wrote something about this incredible moment when Oppenheimer and his scientists could not completely rule out the possibility that by activating their first nuclear device, they could set off a chain reaction that would destroy the world.

“We used that as a metaphor for ‘Tenet,'” Nolan continued in an interview with Hitchcock. “As a gift at the end of filming, Rob gave me a book of Oppenheimer’s speeches from the 1950s, which tells how these great intellectuals try to deal with the enormous consequences of what they did to change our lives forever.” The accompanying interview passage can be found in the following video from about 4:30 pm:

Should Robert Pattinson star in “Oppenheimer”?

It is precisely this quarrel with the aforementioned consequences, which is so tangibly conveyed in the book in question, that now forms one of the core pieces of Nolan’s “Oppenheimer”. But while the donation of the book had a decisive influence on the director’s work on the film, the donor did not make it to the new work of the “Dark Knight” creators. But that’s probably not because Nolan didn’t want the former “Twilight” vampire in “Oppenheimer.” In fact, in the interview above, it sounds more like he actually offered him a part.

The fact that nothing came of it in the end was probably just a matter of timing: “He was busy. He’s in high demand these days,” Nolan said of his ‘Tenet’ star. In fact, Pattinson most recently stepped in front of the camera as the lead in Parasite creator Bong Joon Ho’s upcoming sci-fi drama Mickey 17 (theatrical release: March 28, 2024). He will also next appear in Adam McKay’s serial killer farce Average Height, Average Build and again as the Dark Knight in The Batman 2.

But even without Robert Pattinson, the Oppenheimer cast is brimming with stars – from Cillian Murphy and Emily Blunt to Matt Damon and Robert Downey Jr. to Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett and Rami Malek (just to name a fraction). ). You can see it all very quickly: “Oppenheimer“ begins July 20, 2023 in German cinemas.