On the heels of the latest casting news comes a first look at the movie – or at least the man playing the title character – Cillian Murphy is seen here sporting a hat and cigarette as Robert Oppenheimer, one of the scientists behind the bomb.
Nolan here is adapting the Pulitzer Prize-winning book ‘American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer’ by Kai Bird and the late Martin J. Sherwin. It chronicles how he was part of the infamous Manhattan Project and played a key role in the creation of atomic weapons, yet later came to have complicated feelings about their deadly power. He lobbied for international control of nuclear power and opposed the creation of the even more destructive hydrogen bomb.
Emily Blunt is playing his wife, biologist, and botanist Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer, with Matt Damon as General Leslie Groves Jr., director of the Manhattan Project and Robert Downey, Jr. as Lewis Strauss, a founding commissioner of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.
Florence Pugh will portray psychiatrist Jean Tatlock, who turns out to have a hidden agenda, while Benny Safdie plays theoretical physicist Edward Teller. Michael Angarano is physicist Robert Serber and Josh Hartnett plays pioneering American nuclear scientist Ernest Lawrence.
Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot in ‘Death on the Nile.’ Photo Courtesy of Walt Disney Studios.
We also don’t know who Branagh will be playing, but this marks his third time working with the director, after ‘Dunkirk’ and ‘Tenet’. Still, the award for Most Frequent Collaborator surely goes to Murphy, who appears in ‘Batman Begins’, ‘The Dark Knight’, ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, ‘Inception’ and ‘Dunkirk’.
‘Oppenheimer’ sees Nolan tackling a historical subject again, and one that surely offers the opportunity for plenty of his terse dialogue and large-canvas visions. It won’t surprise you to learn that it’ll be shot and released on 65mm IMAX and large-format film. Providing the beautiful footage is another repeat Nolan colleague, director of photography Hoyte Van Hoytema, while composer Ludwig Göransson returns after scoring ‘Tenet’. A pulse-pounding thriller with high stakes certainly feels like it could work well for Nolan.
For the first time in several movies, this won’t be released by Warner Bros. Following the less-than gigantic (partly because of its slot during the pandemic) box office for ‘Tenet’, Nolan and producing partner Emma Thomas opened this one up to rival studios, with Universal winning the rights to distribute, handing down a July 21, 2023 theatrical release date.
This past year, most of us couldn’t go out to the movies with our friends and spend way too much money on overpriced movie food. Instead, we stayed indoors where a lot of people (2.5 BILLION of you world-wide!) played video games! But we also watched movies… just on a smaller screen than we’re used to.
These two great mediums cross over a lot, either with movies made into games, or games turned in to movies. But let’s focus movies as the starting point – here’s a list of a few movies released in 2020 that would make great video games!
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (directed by Cathy Yan)
‘Birds of Prey’ and Overwatch
When I first saw ‘Birds of Prey’ in theatres, I immediately thought the movie gave off a huge Overwatch vibe. Each main character stands out in both personality, abilities and costume. Anyone who has seen even just art from Overwatch can tell which character is which, and that’s something Birds of Prey did as well. The bright colors and individual powers seen in the movie that would totally rock in an Overwatch-style game. Imagine being able to choose your character and their weapon loadout before a level against Black Mask’s goons, each character having different abilities and playing completely differently than one another! Just beware of arguments about who’s going to play as Harley…
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Tenet (directed by Christopher Nolan)
‘Tenet’ and Metal Gear Solid
Let’s be real, Nolan is a class act when it comes to cinematic action. Any Nolan film pretty much guarantees impressive visuals and crazy clean action scenes. But what video game director does the same thing? Hideo Kojima, creator of Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding. Like Nolan, Kojima displays a love for the cinematic spectacle, so just imagine a Kojima-created action title based on Tenet! Or think of the Uncharted series from Naughty Dog, with games that rival any Nolan film with their depth, cinematic set-pieces, and gripping action. And with the capabilities of next-gen consoles, there’s enough processing power to enable the use of controlling in-game, narrative time and even having fights be seamlessly played both forwards and backwards. And you can’t have a ‘Tenet’ video game with time not being a part of it, can you?
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Onward (directed by Dan Scanlon)
‘Onward’ and the Mario Bros.
How can we get through this list without a great animated film that would make an even greater platformer? Disney and Pixar constantly hit it out of the park with animated features, and ‘Onward’ is no exception. What also makes ‘Onward’ fit in with other Disney properties is how easily it would translate to a video game! Any gamer watching ‘Onward’ could immediately imagine what an awesome platformer it would make. Think of the Nintendo’s open-world Mario 64, an all-time great. But instead of jumping into pictures or flying to other planets in your hat-shaped spaceship, you’re on an insane road trip with your older brother, on the quest to bring your dad back! Imagine the hub is a 3D map, with you driving that van to each level. Like a Mario game, you would have your slew of collectables, platforming challenges, and each area, from the Manticore’s Tavern to the motorcycle pixies chase, would have its own look and color palette. And of course, you’d also have a game meant for all ages. Besides, who doesn’t love a platformer these days?
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Host (directed by Rob Savage)
‘Host’ and Five Nights at Freddy’s
It can’t be a long-term quarantine without a horror film that hits incredibly close to home! But ‘Host’ could also capitalize on a very specific game genre. A few years ago, the horror game genre exploded with the popularity of “single-room” horror games. The description pretty much speaks for itself; games that seemingly take place on one screen, in one room. Obviously, you can thank the likes of Five Nights at Freddy’s and Her Story as a result of that boom. And horror fits this genre well, bringing a type of tension that other horror game titles just don’t replicate. ‘Host’ takes place on a single screen with multiple frames, following six friends as they attempt a séance via Zoom. If that was a game story, you would be switching from frame to frame, trying to save your friends as an unknown entity stalks them. And as it’s on a computer, gameplay would include voice and text chat with the other characters, tracking their devices, etc.
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Lockdown was made a little easier with as the last year gave us a slew of great video games and movies as well. And if you’re spending time with both, you might be seeing how much each medium has taken from the other. Filmmakers are starting to subtly (and not so subtly) take their inspiration from gaming and the genres they follow, and games use film elements even outside specific adaptations. Hopefully, this list puts some movies on your radar you may have missed, and we hope it also encourages you to seek out some games that you maybe haven’t tried yet!
Since the November 2019 release of the music video “Heartless,” The Weeknd, real name Abel Tesfaye a noted cinephile who has cited David Lynch, David Cronenberg, Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese as inspirations in the past, has crafted a deep cinematic narrative throughout the video elements of his fourth album After Hours. Along with the lyrical and visual narratives of the album itself, which tracks a man dubbed The Weeknd through a bad break-up, a hard look at his hedonistic lifestyle, and in the end some wistful wisdom as he starts to maybe group up a bit, the videos and live appearances to promote the album are also chock full of cinematic references. Take the title itself: After Hours evokes late night clubs, but from a cinematic point of view it immediately brings up visions of Martin Scorsese’s 1985 cult classic of the same name about a word processor named Paul who takes a late night trip to SoHo in New York City and can’t seem to ever get himself back home.
“Blinding Lights” (left) and ‘After Hours’ (right)
Much like Paul, the videos find a man dubbed The Character (played of course by The Weeknd) in an endless journey through the darker parts of himself – and through a myriad of film references.
The Weeknd debuted his now signature red suit in the video for “Heartless,” directed by Anton Tammi, which itself is a reference to a suit worn by Robert De Niro in Scorsese’s 1995 film ‘Casino’. The video, shot in Las Vegas, features The Character and a friend (played by Metro Boomin) as they gallivant around Sin City, stumbling in a drug-induced haze like Johnny Depp and Benicio del Toro in Terry Gilliam’s 1998 adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s 1971 novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. He even worked this stumble into his performance at the Super Bowl LV Halftime Show.
“Blinding Lights” (left) and ‘Blade Runner’ (right)
The video for his next single “Blinding Lights,” also directed by Tammi, there are even more film references. We see The Character steal a car and head back to Los Angeles, where, among other things, he dances in the 2nd Street Tunnel. This landmark of Los Angeles has been featured in countless films, including Ridley Scott’s 1982 film ‘Blade Runner.’ An adaptation of the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick (side note: the author is also referenced in the lyrics of “Snow Child,” with the line “give her Phillip K Dick”), the film is set in Los Angeles in November 2019 – the same month the video was released – and references to it will show up in a later video.
“Blinding Lights” (left) and ‘The Dark Knight’ (right)
Much has been made of The Weeknd’s dancing throughout the promotion of After Hours being reminiscent of Joaquin Phoenix in ‘Joker,’ but in fact these videos are peppered with references to many cinematic Jokers, including the moment in Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Dark Knight,’ where Heath Ledger gleefully hangs his head outside a stolen police car he’s driving.
“Blinding Lights” (left) and ‘Blue Velvet’ (right)
Much of the vibe throughout the music videos and live performances for After Hours have a Lynchian feel to them and in “Blinding Lights,” there is a direct reference to David Lynch’s ‘Blue Velvet,’ where Dennis Hopper’s psychopath Frank Booth watches tormented torch singer Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini) croon the titular song. In “Blinding Lights,” The Character is mesmerized by the musical stylings of an unnamed singer played by Miki Hamano, whose voice literally lifts him off the ground.
“Blinding Lights” (left) and ‘Twin Peaks’ (right)
We even get another hint of the Red Room from ‘Twin Peaks;’ in fact much of the eerie instrumental music that accompanies The Weeknd in the moments between videos and throughout the ‘After Hours’ short film have an Angelo Badalamenti vibe to them.
“Blinding Lights” (left) and ‘Joker’ (right)
Perhaps the most obvious reference in the video is his dancing, sometimes in the 2nd Street Tunnel, sometimes elsewhere throughout downtown Los Angeles, appears to be directly lifted from Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker as he dances to Gary Glitter’s “Rock and Roll Part 2” as he makes his way to make his late night debut in Todd Phillips’ ‘Joker.’
‘After Hours’ (left) and ‘The King of Comedy’ (right)
The After Hours short film, again directed by Tammi, takes place shortly after The Weeknd’s performance of “Blinding Lights” on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. The video begins as his set ends, The Character grinning like Rupert Pupkin at the end of Martin Scorese’s ‘The King of Comedy’ – itself a huge influence of Todd Phillips’s ‘Joker.’
‘After Hours’ (left) and ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ (right)
Tesfaye has stated influences on the short film also include Adrian Lyne’s psychological horror film ‘Jacob’s Ladder,’ which includes a scene where Tim Robbins is menaced by unknown forces in an empty subway station, Roman Polanki’s ‘Chinatown’ (the bandage on his nose), Claire Deni’s ‘Trouble Every Day,’ Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession, and Brian De Palma’s ‘Dressed to Kill.’
“In Your Eyes” (left) and ‘Dial M for Murder’ (right)
The video with possibly the most film references is “In Your Eyes,” in which The Character wordlessly stalks a young blonde woman à la Michael Myers in John Carpenter’s ‘Halloween.’ The horror movie infused video has nods to everything from Wes Craven’s ‘Scream’ to Dario Argento’s Suspiria to Alfred Hitchcock. At one point the woman takes refuge in a phone booth – à la ‘The Birds’ – and dials for help. Tammi, uses an ultra close-up of the keys, an homage to ‘Dial M For Murder,’ in which Hitchcock blonde Grace Kelly’s husband Ray Milland has hired someone to murder her.
“In Your Eyes” (left) and ‘The Terminator’ (right)
The woman then flees to a club titled After Hours – which uses the exact same lightbulb font as the Tech Noir club in James Cameron’s ‘Terminator,’ an idea that came early in the creative ideation for the video.
The horror vibes continue in the video for “Too Late”, directed by Cliqua. After being decapitated at the end of the previous video, The Character’s head is found by two models on the side of the road. The world they inhabit feels akin to Nicholas Winding Refn’s psychological horror film ‘The Neon Demon,’ where the Los Angeles modeling scene is depicted as so bleak the models are literally eating each other alive. Tesfaye is a noted friend of director Refn.
“Too Late” (left) and ‘American Psycho’ (right)
When the two discover that the head belongs to The Weeknd, they concoct a nefarious plan to bring him back to life. Laying newspapers on their floor and donning clear plastic rain gear à la Mary Harron’s adaption of Bret Easton Ellis’s yuppie black comedy American Psycho, the girls lure an unsuspecting male stripper (Ken XY) to their home in order to murder him and place The Character’s head on his body. Spooky.
“Save Your Tears” (left) and ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ (right)
In the most recent video, “Save Your Tears” again directed by Cliqua, The Character is now performing for a masked crowd straight out of Stanley Kubrick’s ‘Eyes Wide Shut.’ After appearing at the American Music Awards with a fully bandaged face like the models, his face has now clearly been marred by plastic surgery (looking quite a bit like Jocelyn Wildenstein aka the Tiger Woman of NYC).
“Save Your Tears” (left) and ‘Batman’ (right)
As the video ends, there is one last Joker reference – this time with Jack Nicholson’s iteration. In the climax of Tim Burton’s ‘Batman,’ he pulls a gun on himself after forcing Vicki Vale (Kim Basigner) to dance with him. Like Nicholson’s Joker, when he pulls the trigger there’s no bullet; The Character’s gun shoots confetti, just like the Joker’s gun pops out a flag.
Since these are just a few of the many references found throughout the music videos for After Hours (and in fact most of his music videos going back a decade), it’s only a matter of time before The Weeknd makes a feature film himself, or at least drops a link to his Letterboxd profile.
Naturally, we have no idea what role he’ll play, since all we know about the project is it’s “an action epic evolving from the world of international espionage.”
“Tenet” stars Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Kenneth Branagh and Nolan regular Michael Caine. And It may or may not involve time travel. (Given Nolan’s love of playing with timelines, this wouldn’t be the least bit surprising.)
Patel also costars in the British period drama “The Aeronauts,” which is in theaters on December 6 and will debut on Amazon Prime on December 20.
Some moviegoers got a surprise sneak peek at Christopher Nolan’s next film, “Tenet,” on Thursday night.
The trailer — which is not yet available online — debuted before some screenings of “Hobbs & Shaw.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the roughly minute-long teaser opens on a bullet hole in glass. Behind the glass is John David Washington (“BlacKkKlansman”). That shot is followed by the tagline, “Time has come for a new protagonist.” Then, Washington examines the glass and the camera pans to reveal more cracks, presumably made from the bullet.
Notably, the title of the film (a palindrome) flips two of the letters upside down, reading as “TENƎꓕ”
Not much is known about the film, which also stars Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and (of course) Michael Caine. It’s been described as an “action epic evolving from the world of international espionage.”
But with rumors that the plot involves the time continuum, the use of the word “time” in the tagline, and the flipped letters in the title, Nolan may possibly deploy non-linear storytelling in “Tenet” just as he did in “Memento.”
“Tenet” is an action epic evolving from the world of international espionage. Filming will take place across seven countries. Yes please.
Nolan is directing from his own original screenplay and will use both IMAX and 70mm film.
It’s his first movie since 2017’s World War II drama “Dunkirk,” which was nominated for the Best Picture and Best Director Oscars and won Best Editing, Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing.
“I got locked in a room to read the script,” Robert Pattinson told USA Today. All he could say about the script — which he didn’t get to take home with him, obviously — is that it’s “unreal.”
Pattinson, who isn’t exactly fond of his time in the “Twilight Saga,” added, “I’ve been a little wary of doing big movies for years and years, but there’s just something about Chris Nolan’s stuff. He seems like the only director now who can do what is essentially a very personal, independent movie that has huge scale.”
Very little is known about Nolan’s new project, which follows up 2017’s Oscar-nominated “Dunkirk.” Reportedly, it is a massive, innovative action blockbuster that will be filmed in Nolan’s favorite format, IMAX. It’s set to open July 17, 2020
Pattinson has been very busy since his “Twilight” days. He’s mostly stuck to small, ambitious indies. Robert Eggers’ “The Lighthouse,” “The King” at Netflix, and “Waiting for the Barbarians” all expected to bow this year. He can next be seen in Claire Denis’ “High Life,” the black-and-white horror film “The Lighthouse,” Netflix’s Henry V drama “The King” opposite Timothée Chalamet, and the J.M. Coetzee adaptation “Waiting for the Barbarians.”
Debicki appeared in Netflix’s “Cloverfield Paradox” and “Widows,” and also voiced character in “Peter Rabbit.” She can next be seen in the upcoming HBO horror series “Lovecraft Country.”
It’s being described as an “event film” and it has a release date of July 17, 2020.
An insider tells Variety it will be a “massive, innovative, action blockbuster” and that it will be in IMAX.
Besides starring in Spike Lee’s Oscar-winning “BlacKkKlansman,” Washington (the son of Denzel Washington) also starred in the lesser-seen cop drama “Monsters and Men.”The former earned him Golden Globe and SAG nominations, the latter, an Independent Spirit Award nomination.
The Caped Crusader is turning 80 this year, and to celebrate, Warner Bros. is bringing Christopher Nolan‘s celebrated “Dark Knight” trilogy back to the big screen for a limited engagement. And according to executives, it’s an opportunity for audiences to view the films “as they were meant to be seen.”
The three movies — 2005’s “Batman Begins,” 2008’s “The Dark Knight,” and 2012’s “The Dark Knight Rises” — will screen back-to-back at five locations across North America beginning later this month. Each will be presented in 70mm IMAX, Nolan’s preferred format, in a nod to the filmmaker’s groundbreaking use of the technology while shooting “The Dark Knight.”
The celebration will kick off on March 30 at the Universal Cinema AMC at CityWalk in Hollywood, California, where Nolan will appear for a moderated Q&A discussion between the showings of the second and third films. That conversation will be recorded, and video of that event will be screened at four additional locations hosting the trilogy marathon: AMC Lincoln Square in New York City and AMC Metreon in San Francisco on April 13; and Cinesphere Ontario Place, Toronto and IMAX Theatre at the Indiana State Museum, Indianapolis on April 20.
