Christopher Nolan Was ‘Appropriately Nervous’ Filming His First Sex Scenes for ‘Oppenheimer,’ Calls ‘Sexuality’ an ‘Essential Part of the Story’

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©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection

 

“Oppenheimer” marks several firsts for writer-director Christopher Nolan. It’s his first outright biopic and the first movie to be shot on IMAX cameras using black-and-white film stock. It’s also the first Christopher Nolan movie to feature sex scenes. J. Robert Oppenheimer, played by Cillian Murphy, had a steamy romance with physician Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh) before his marriage to Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer. His romance to Tatlock continued despite the marriage.

 

“Any time you’re challenging yourself to work in areas you haven’t worked in before, you should be appropriately nervous and appropriately careful and planned and prepared,” Nolan recently told Insider when asked about filming sex scenes for the first time.

 

Tatlock’s ties to the American Communist Party “had enormous ramifications” on Oppenheimer’s life once he was accused of being a Soviet spy and investigated by the Atomic Energy Commission. Nolan said he wanted to include sex scenes between the characters to show their romance transcended politics.

 

“When you look at Oppenheimer’s life and you look at his story, that aspect of his life, the aspect of his sexuality, his way with women, the charm that he exuded, it’s an essential part of his story,” Nolan told Insider.

 

The director added, “It felt very important to understand their relationship and to really see inside it and understand what made it tick without being coy or allusive about it — but to try to be intimate, to try and be in there with him and fully understand the relationship that was so important to him.”

 

The film’s sex scenes are one of the reasons “Oppenheimer” is rated R — the first Nolan movie to receive that rating since 2002’s “Insomnia.” “Oppenheimer” opens in theaters nationwide July 21 from Universal Pictures.

 

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