Summer blockbuster filmed in Berkeley drops new trailer
One of the most anticipated movies of the year, filmed in part at UC Berkeley, dropped a new trailer this week.
Christopher Nolan’s $100 million biopic, “Oppenheimer,” details the life of former Berkeley professor J. Robert Oppenheimer. Known as “the father of the atomic bomb,” Oppenheimer's leading role in the Manhattan Project would result in the development of the world's first nuclear weapon.
We first learned the Oscar-nominated British director was shooting in the East Bay in May last year when some vintage cars started showing up near the bell tower on campus.
“UC Berkeley is *always* ready for its close-up,” the university's library account tweeted.
The movie stars Nolan regular Cillian Murphy (“Dunkirk,” “Inception”) as the titular character, alongside Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, “And cars. Lots of vintage cars,” the tweet noted.
Murphy was spotted shooting a scene in which he gets out of one of the 1930s-era vehicles and walks across what is now aptly named Oppenheimer Way into the physics building. The famed scientist's office was located there on the third floor of LeConte Hall.
The new trailer doesn't feature too much of Berkeley's campus — it's largely focused on Oppenheimer testing his bomb in New Mexico — but does feature one location Berkeley students will recognize. A crane shot shows three ominous suited characters carrying briefcases while strolling across Edwards Stadium. The Art Deco field was built in 1932. It would've been fairly new at the time, as the professor taught at UC Berkeley between 1929 and 1943.
Universal Pictures
During production last year, SFGATE reported on the lengths production design was going to hide any sign of modern life on set. Potted plants and trees were used to cover bike racks and signs for accessible parking, and wooden sheds hid recycling bins.
J. Robert Oppenheimer isn't the only famous scientist to appear in the movie. The latest trailer revealed a scene with actor Tom Conti playing the unmistakable white-mustached Albert Einstein.
The movie is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography “American Prometheus” and is due for release in theaters July 21, 2023.
Source: SFGATE
