“No chairs!” Robert Downey Jr. describes Oppenheimer’s amazing shoot with Nolan

Christopher Nolan’s latest feature, released in theaters on July 19 and now available on DVD and VOD, about the physicist today remembered as the “Father of the Atomic Bomb,” is one of the biggest hits of the year.

Filmed in just 55 days, Oppenheimer reunites the director of Interstellar and Inception with one of his favorite actors: the brilliant Cillian Murphy, who has already worked for him five times. Unlike the latter, who was probably used to the special rhythm of Nolan’s filming, the American actor Robert Downey Jr. – who perfectly plays the role of Lewis Strauss – has never had the opportunity to step in front of the director’s camera before. .

Recently, at the microphone variety And with his former sidekick Mark Ruffalo (who played the Hulk in the Marvel Cinematic Universe), Robert Downey Jr. described the unique, spartan and stunning work environment:

“We were rehearsing at the Imex, which is crazy. We’d go back and sit in our set chairs – no, we didn’t sit because there were no chairs set up! It was very spartan, with about 100 people watching each. Day. There were very few people on set and I loved it. I remembered that When I was a kid with my dad, when he wasn’t there, it was just him and his cameraman and the editor and some lights. The students and they were like, ‘Let’s try something.’

Seemingly enamored of this atmosphere without any mastery and only devoted to the work, Robert Downey Jr. continues:

“ requires this almost monastic energy. (…) It feels like he’s being stripped of his armor, and he’s doing it on purpose. It creates a different atmosphere. We’re moving at such a pace that if we take the time to put down our cell phone and put down the snack table – oh no, there isn’t! – Then we lose track of what he is doing.

Therefore, there are no chairs or food on the Oppenheimer set. But it was the sheer concentration of Christopher Nolan and his cast that resulted in one of the biggest commercial and critical successes of 2023.

(Re)discover our interview with Christopher Nolan and his cast…