Given the historical and psychological complexity of “Oppenheimer” — the biopic thriller about physicist J.
Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy), the “father of the atomic bomb” — director Christopher Nolan and go-to cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema ventured into uncharted territory with the large-format IMAX camera to explore the landscape of faces.
Specifically, the faces of Oppenheimer and Admiral Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr.), a major figure in the development of nuclear weapons during the Cold War.To help achieve a more intimate spectacle, redefining portraits and close-ups for 70mm IMAX, Nolan divided the film into separate perspectives and timelines: He called Oppenheimer’s “Fission” (in color) and Strauss’ “Fusion” (in black-and-white), in keeping with the quantum physics theme.“This was a three-hour-long movie about faces,” van Hoytema told IndieWire.
“And our challenge was to be able to get closer with the camera to make those faces become our landscape, and to make those…
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