Christopher Nolan Used Real Scientists’ as ‘Oppenheimer’ Extras

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy discuss their previous roles together and also their new project Oppenheimer which is in theaters July 21.

As Cillian Murphy describes the “phenomenal actors” he worked with on the project, Chris Nolan reveals they used real scientists’ as extra’s to provide technical knowledge and reactions.

“We were in the real Los Alamos and we had a lot of real scientists as extras. We needed the crowd of extras to give reactions, and improvise, and we were getting sort of impromptu, very educated speeches. It was really fun to listen to. You’ve been on sets where you’ve got a lot of extras around and they’re more or less thinking about lunch. These guys were thinking about the geopolitical implications of nuclear arms and knew a lot about it. It actually was a great reminder every day of, we have to be really on our game, we have to be faithful to the history here, and really know what we’re up to.“

Nolan’s film follows the theoretical physicist’s role in the Manhattan Project. Between 1942 and 1946, during the Second World War, to produce the first nuclear weapons.

With fears that scientists working for Adolf Hitler are working on a nuclear weapon of their own. A team of scientists and military officials are determined to beat Germany to it.

Watch the trailer below, Oppenheimer is out in Cinemas July 21.