The Hollywood Reporter confirms Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer has officially earned an R-rating by the MPA standards, marking the heavyweight director’s first since Insomnia (2002) starring Al Pacino and Robin Williams, which itself was preceded by his breakout feature Memento (2000).
Nolan has mainly occupied the PG-13 space in his more prolific years. Against all odds, he managed to craft theatrical releases such as The Dark Knight and the World War II epic Dunkirk with this very rating – despite the gritty nature of the subject matter and violent materials.
This comes to light on the same day the Associated Press reveals the stretch of IMAX film used for Oppenheimer measures to a staggering 11 miles (17.7 kilometres) and weighs a hefty 600 pounds (272 kilograms). Effectively, it translates to Nolan’s longest-ever film at three hours.
RELATED: Surprise, Surprise… The Nuclear Explosions In ‘Oppenheimer’ Were Recreated Without CGI
So how does the forthcoming biopic starring Cillian Murphy as the Father of the Atomic Bomb – and based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin – stack up against the runtimes of Christopher Nolan’s other flicks?
- Interstellar (2014): 2 hours 49 minutes
- The Dark Knight Rises (2012): 2 hours 44 minutes
- The Dark Knight (2008): 2 hours 32 minutes
- Tenet (2020): 2 hours 30 minutes
- Inception (2010): 2 hours 28 minutes
- Batman Begins (2005): 2 hours 20 minutes
- The Prestige (2006): 2 hours 10 minutes
- Insomnia (2002): 1 hour 58 minutes
- Memento (1999): 1 hour 53 minutes
- Dunkirk (2017): 1 hour 46 minutes
- Following (1998): 1 hour 9 minutes
RELATED: James Cameron’s Next Movie Will Tell The Other Side Of Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’
Murphy is joined onscreen by an all-star lineup featuring Emily Blunt as Oppenheimer’s wife Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer, Robert Downey Jr as businessman/naval officer Lewis Strauss, Matt Damon as Lieutenant General and Manhattan Project director Leslie Groves, Florence Pugh as psychiatrist/physician Jean Tatlock, Benny Safdie as physicist Edward Teller, Josh Hartnett as nuclear scientist Ernest Lawrence, and Tom Conti as Albert freakin’ Einstein.
Rami Malek, Dane DeHaan, Jack Quaid, Matthew Modine, Alden Ehrenreich, Gary Oldman, Casey Affleck, Jason Clarke, plus David Krumholtz are also set to make an appearance.
Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is scheduled for release on July 21st of 2023 – the annual slot typically saved for Nolan’s flicks; roughly two weeks before the anniversary of Hiroshima – check out the latest trailer below.
