Christopher Nolan defends long movies and says that Oppenheimer is two minutes shorter than Avengers: Endgame – The USA Print

Oppenheimer – 95% made a big difference in Christopher Nolan’s filmography for several reasons. It was his first biographical film, although it is not necessarily true if we consider that he had already written one before even though it did not reach theaters, and it is his first R-rated film in 20 years (the last one was Insomnia- 92% of 2002). The film starring Cillian Murphy is also her longest film, with a duration of 3 hours.

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Due to its duration, in addition to the fact that if we combine the aforementioned, Oppenheimer It has characteristics for which no one really imagined that it was going to be his best project, beyond the usual for what a film of Christopher Nolan that doesn’t have superheroes. The filmmaker has always attracted a large audience in each of his releases, and he even did so with Tenet. 83% in the hardest stage of the pandemic, but this case was complicated because it is an R-rated biopic that also lasts 3 hours. The success it has had at the box office is a pleasant surprise for everyone, including its lifelong fans.

Regardless of what the film is about, audiences tend to be very vocal when a film lasts more than two hours. For some it is unnecessary, and full-length movies even become the subject of jokes for the “lack” of a bathroom break, as happened with Avengers: Endgame – 95% at the time. However, the filmmaker defended that his project has that many hours and compared it to the Marvel Cinematic Universe film that was also a great box office success.

This is what he said during an interview for Collider:

The running time is two minutes shorter than Avengers: Endgame, so we’re sticking with that. I told (producer) Emma Thomas from the beginning that it would be a three-hour film. I have to write a script that reflects that. That was our conversation with the studio. It’s a great story and it needs great talent. It’s a 180-page script and a $180 million movie.

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With that statement he also confirmed, at the time, the budget of Oppenheimer. Although it is a drama whose protagonist is J. Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist known as the father of the atomic bomb, the film needed that amount of money to recreate a time different from the current one, where everything from the costumes to the vehicles that were found at that time were needed. It was also necessary to get the cast it has, from actors like Murphy to Emily Blunt and Robert Downey Jr., and because the tests of the atomic bomb explosions were practically recreated.

The plot of Oppenheimer, and the way Nolan tells that story, captivated audiences so much that not only has it generated US$866 million worldwide so far, but it also made them forget that the film lasts 3 hours. Although they are very different stories, Avengers: Endgame It also kept the viewer on the edge of their seat, and the length mattered little to nothing after everything that was said before its release.

Before the film’s release, Matt Damon told The Direct that the film is “fantastic” and that it lasted 3 hours, but that because of the way Nolan made it, those hours were very good and went by quickly. Now that more than a month has passed since its release we can see that the length of the film had no influence at all on the public’s desire to see the film, and its result has shown that a good story can be a success without needing to be a sequel or remake, as well as the fact that an apparently long story can always be very entertaining despite its dramatic and real background.

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