Cillian Murphy Says ‘Oppenheimer’ Was Shot in an ‘Unbelievably Quick’ 57 Days: ‘The Pace of That Was Insane’

Cillian Murphy said during an interview on Marc Marons WTF podcast that Christopher Nolans Oppenheimer was made on a relentlessly fast schedule. We made the movie unbelievably quickly. We made it in 57 days, the actor revealed. The pace of that was insane.

By comparison, Nolans World War II survival thriller Dunkirk shot for 68 days, and his massive spy movie Tenet shot for 96 days. Murphy is front and center in a majority of Oppenheimer scenes, making the shorter shooting schedule all the more intense for the actor.

The sets are huge, but it feels like being on an independent movie, Murphy added about working with Nolan, which he has been doing for over 20 years now. Theres just Chris and the cameraman one camera always, unless theres some huge, huge set piece and the boom op and thats it. Theres no video village, theres no monitors, nothing. Hes a very analog filmmaker.

Even though Oppenheimer shot for 57 days, which is one of Nolans shorter shoots, the film runs three hours and is the longest of the directors career. The cast and crew lived together in the same hotel during the films production, but Murphy never joined his fellow ensemble for dinner due to the intensity of playing the lead role.

Of course he didnt want to come and have dinner with us, Matt Damon recently told People magazine. He couldnt. His brain was just too full.

Emily Blunt reasoned that Murphy did not attend cast dinners because the sheer volume of what he had to take on and shoulder is so monumental.

For Murphy, Oppenheimer marks the biggest leading role of his film career thus far. That kind of pressure isolated the actor. You know that when you have those big roles, that responsibility, you feel its kind of overwhelming, he toldPeople.

NolanandMurphys working relationship now includes six movies: Three Batman films, Inception, Dunkirk and Oppenheimer. Notably, the upcoming atomic bomb drama marks Murphys first time headlining a Nolan picture in the lead role. He toldthe Associated Pressearlier this year that he was desperate to lead a Nolan movie.

I have always said publicly and privately, to Chris, that if Im available and you want me to be in a movie, Im there. I dont really care about the size of the part, Murphy said. But deep down, secretly, I was desperate to play a lead for him.

Oppenheimer opens in theaters July 21 from Universal Pictures.