Despite its massive runtime and incredibly stacked cast, Christopher Nolan shot Oppenheimer in just 60 days. However, that wasn’t his original plan for his epic tale about the father of the atomic bomb.
According to production designer Ruth De Jong, Nolan had prepped for an 85-day shoot. The director had planned to film all over the world, but he quickly pivoted when he realized the cost required to recreate Los Alamos, the New Mexico town where the Manhattan Project began its work on the devastating bombs that would be deployed in World War II.
De Jong told the Team Deakins podcast that Nolan instructed her to “forget the money” and start designing a model for Los Alamos. But when the first construction estimate came in at $20 million, Nolan told her to stop while he did his “homework.” De Jong was not prepared for what happened next.
Via Variety:
“The producers were asking what I could do on my end to shrink [the budget]. Tom then comes into my office and says, ‘Chris is going to shoot this in 55 days.’ That is a lot of money we get back! At that point you feel like I have to deliver above and beyond because he just went and gave up his days. He, more than anyone, knows what he wants to get in every single day and how he wants to get it and he goes from 85 to 55 days.”
De Jong called Nolan’s decision “the most incredible thing” because the director was clearly dedicated to the importance of set design. Thanks to the 30 day cut in filming, De Jong was able to build Los Alamos “from scratch” and the detail shows in the final product.
(Via Variety)