Having done what its subject did in a roundabout way by detonating a nuclear device on the box office to sail past $175 million after its first three days in theaters, Oppenheimer also found itself in a spot of controversy due to a scene that marked a career first for director Christopher Nolan.
We are of course talking about the beast with two backs being created in one of the filmmaker’s features for the first time ever, with Cillian Murphy and Florence Pugh engaging in some questionable coitus that ultimately ended up offending up to a billion people based on the blistering statement put out on Twitter.
While nobody involved in Oppenheimer has spoken out directly as of yet, an interview conducted prior to the strike with The Playlist found the leading man reflecting on the “intense” scenes they shared, which he obviously couldn’t have predicted would end up igniting fury among a substantial percentage of the planet’s population.
“Well, we met up and we talked about it, but she’s an extraordinary presence and she’s a fantastic actor. And her role in the movie is really devastatingly impactful. But again, I think that it all comes down to trust. You got to trust each other and you got to trust your director, and I think we all felt that.”
You couldn’t make it up, really; Nolan dives into onscreen coitus for the first time in a career that’s spanned more than 20 years, only to piss off an entire religious group as a result. Of course, Murphy just did what was on the page – as did Pugh – but his words haven’t aged all that well given the circumstances.