‘Oppenheimer’ — How Robert Downey Jr.’s Performance Was Saved in Edits

The Big Picture

• Christopher Nolan’s film Oppenheimer has a runtime of 181 minutes, which posed challenges during the editing process to fit within the time constraints of IMAX screenings.
• Despite initial concerns about the length of the film, producer Emma Thomas is glad that only half an hour was cut, as it allowed for impactful performances, including Robert Downey Jr.’s standout portrayal of Lewis Strauss.
• Oppenheimer will be available for streaming on various digital platforms and can also be purchased on 4K Blu-ray DVDs from physical retailers.

Christopher Nolan‘s Oppenheimer clocks in at a whopping 181 minutes. And it couldn’t afford to be any more than that, according to producer Emma Thomas, who told Collider’s Perri Nemiroff about the editing process behind the film—and what the edit helped save, when Nolan realized he had to cut half an hour from the movie without losing any scenes, in order to secure a release on IMAX.

While the film has defied expectations at the box office—it may seem a minor detail, but the length of a film can certainly impact its gross, as it restricts the number of screenings per day—Thomas confesses she wasn’t thrilled when she first read Nolan’s screenplay and knew she was looking at more than three hours of film. While movies shot on digital aren’t as much of a consideration when it comes to formats like IMAX, true IMAX film, used on pictures like Oppenheimer, are limited to three hours.

It’s long been documented just how long and heavy—11 miles, 650lbs—the IMAX film reel of Oppenheimer was on 70mm, so logistically, that presented a big problem. Thomas noted that the film’s original cut was three-and-a-half hours long, but the scenes shot were all so pivotal to the movie’s storytelling that none could be cut. Star Cillian Murphy had previously disclosed that Nolan will never have any deleted scenes on his movies. Which meant editing by a thousand cuts.

“Well, this is the thing, yes, three hours is long, and I wasn’t very happy about that when I first read the script, let me tell you, but we knew that it had to be three hours because of the IMAX platter. We couldn’t go any longer or it wouldn’t have fit. I think the first time we watched the film it was probably about three-and-a-half hours and from that point on, they just had to pull stuff out. They didn’t cut whole scenes, they just trimmed and trimmed and trimmed. When we got to around three hours, I’m sure that we could have gone further.”

Who Was Robert Downey Jr. in ‘Oppenheimer’?

Admitting that Nolan and editor Jennifer Lame could have probably cut slightly more time out, Thomas was delighted they didn’t, because it allowed for more of the performances to shine through—in particular for Robert Downey Jr., who has received some career-best notices for his portrayal of the corrupt Lewis Strauss, the film’s de facto antagonist. The camera is almost exclusively on Downey’s face during the black-and-white courtroom scenes, and for Thomas, the precision editing has given Downey what may be a performance peak.

“I’m sure that Chris and Jen [Lame] could have cut probably another five or 10 minutes out, but I’m really glad that they didn’t because I think that there are – I’m not going to call out any specific ones – but there are so many tiny performance details, like looks. Downey does some amazing looks, particularly in that last sequence where you can just see everything that’s going on in his head. Yeah, it’s just incredible, and I think any tighter and we would have lost those depths.”

Where Can I Watch ‘Oppenheimer’?

Film enthusiasts can purchase Oppenheimer on 4K Blu-ray DVDs at physical retailers such as Amazon, Best Buy, Target, and Wal-Mart. Additionally, digital platforms including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Vudu, Xfinity, YouTube, Microsoft, and Verizon will offer the option to stream the movie starting November 21.

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