Florence Pugh recounts camera failure during Oppenheimer sex scene
“We were both naked,” she said of that day of filming with her acting partner Cillian Murphy. “It wasn’t ideal timing!”
Christopher Nolan enormously defended his choice to shoot Oppenheimer in film and IMAX, even if it means using kilometers of reels transported in boxes weighing several kilos.
Robert Downey Jr. explained that during a scene shot in a car, he had to keep one of them on his lap throughout the scene, due to lack of space, and that it weighed him! A process which reminded the actor of the filming “old”especially since all his scenes were shot in black and white (not for a question of flashbacks, but of point of view: as soon as we enter the head of Robert J. Oppenheimer, the film switches back to colors).
“I felt like I was going back to the origins of cinema, to the old school, with this IMAX camera coming ever closer to my face, he said this summer on video. This kind of experience wakes you up!”
Oppenheimer is 18 km tall and weighs 300 kg
About it, Florence Pugh said during a panel around the film hosted by actor Jamie Dornan (Fifty Shades of grey), that she had suffered a camera failure right during one of her most intimate scenes with Cillian Murphy.
“Right in the middle of our sex scene, the camera broke, says the interpreter of Jean Tatlock, Oppenheimer’s mistress. Nobody knew (outside the board), but it happened. When it stopped working, we were both naked. It wasn’t ideal timing!”
The actress then explains that she took advantage of this breakdown to learn more about how this type of camera works, of which there are few examples. Unable to exchange, because the second one used for this shoot was under repair, it had to be repaired on site. Pugh then details a surreal scene.
“Cillian and I were both in this room (naked), she remembers. It was a closed set, and we protected our bodies with our arms. (Seeing the repairman enter), I said to myself that this would be an opportunity to learn more. I saw him pressing lots of buttons, so I got up to ask him: ‘Say, what exactly is wrong with this camera?’ It was my time to shine, I was like: ‘Is the problem with the shutter?’ (laughs)”
Christopher Nolan then explained that the problem came from the way the camera took the light.
Florence Pugh takes advantage of this anecdote to illustrate the extent to which everyone was involved on the set of this film: she says that it was not a question ofban chairs or phones (a reproach that was made to the director), but the desire of everyone to invest fully.
“It’s crazy how every single person who was on that set was aware of this and wanted so much to bring this film to fruition, she says. As a result, there was no moment of hesitation. It’s still extraordinary. We felt very lucky to be a part of that.”
Here is the making-ofOppenheimerfavorite for the next Oscars:
Oppenheimer nude scenes censored with black dress digitally