Why “Oppenheimer” Writer And Director Christopher Nolan Carries A Burner Phone

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGH8RMbrGLM&ab_channel=TheLateShowwithStephenColbert

Feb 8, 2024

0:01
Stephen: Give it up for Louis Cato and The Late Show Band right over there. Thank you, my
friend.

0:10
Welcome back, everybody. Please have a seat, everybody. Thank you very much.

0:14
Folks, we're in the midst of Hollywood awards season, and the most nominated film of the year
is Oppenheimer. It's received 13 Oscar nominations, including best picture as well as best
director and best adapted screenplay for Christopher Nolan.

0:28
Nolan's gripping epic presents the true story of J Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic
bomb, and his fall from grace following World War II.

0:39
It features this absolutely incredible cast, including academy award nominated performances
from Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, and Robert Downey Jr., as well as Matt Damon, Florence
Pugh, Kenneth Branaugh, and so many other huge stars. But not me. Even though it kinda looks
like I'm in the film right now.

0:57
I've been a longtime admirer of Mr. Nolan's work, and was honored to speak with him about his
extraordinary film and his career. Christopher Nolan joined me at one of the key locations for
Oppenheimer, The Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, where we sat down
for an in-depth interview in Albert Einstein's office.

1:18
Christopher, thank you so much for sitting down with me to talk today. I know you don't do a
lot of these. I'm really grateful that you're here.

1:29
>> Christopher: I'm a lot happier behind the camera. That's the simplest way to put it.
But I'm thrilled that anyone would want to talk to me about my work. That's a great thing.

1:35
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>> Stephen: Some musicians don't want to talk about their music because they say I've said
everything in the music. Is that how you feel as a director?

1:42
>> Christopher: It's often how i feel. Depends on the nature of the questions. The fun thing with
Oppenheimer as it's not my story. It's a great piece of history, incredible American story. Talking
about this film has been easier because you can talk about the issues around it. You can talk
about the history.

1:57
>> Stephen: What sparked your interest in this particular story? I know you reference
Oppenheimer and the terrible possibility that a single nuclear ignition could destroy the entire
world in the movie Tenet. Is that moment related to making this film?

2:16
>> Christopher: Definitely. Every time I make a film I try to put sort of, I guess I try to leave each
film with interesting questions that may be in some unrelated form or possibly related form, to
pick up in the next film, those kind of connections between my films.

2:32
>> Stephen: Like that moment into the next film. There are references in Arcadia that Tom
Stoppard looks through to create The Invention of Love.

2:46
>> Christopher: That's a fancy analogy to my work. It would one claimant.
>> Stephen: I'm trying to be as fancy as I can figure, Chris Nolan.

2:56
>> Christopher: For me it's not as conscious as that. It's something I look back at. How did I
come to this? Then I start looking back, what’s the chain, what's the thread?

3:09
>> Stephen: What is the chain reaction? When did you achieve critical mass?

3:14
>> Christopher: Critical mass definitely from reading the book American Prometheus, which Kai
Bird and Martin J. Sherwin spent 25 years working on. I was interested in Oppenheimer. I have
the reference in Tenet because that moment leading up to the Trinity Test, the idea that they
sat in a room and had an actual discussion, along the lines of, well, when we push this button,
very small possibility, it's possible it might end everything, and they went ahead and pushed the
button. And I thought what an incredibly dramatic situation. We used it as analogy in Tenet , as
a way in exploring science fiction. But coming out of that experience Robert Pattinson, who is in
Tenet, gave me a book of Oppenheimer speeches from the 1950s where he's wrestling with
how do we deal with this reality, the change that we have wrought on the world, and so that
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sort of took me a step further. And then our fellow producer suggested I read American
Prometheus.

4:17
My wife and I watched the film first time I watched it. And I'm curious what your reaction is to
the fact that I was so engrossed in the film, and I was watching it with such rapt attention that
when my wife Evie asked me afterwards what I thought about the choice to shoot some of it in
color and some of it in black-and-white. I said what are you talking about? [laughter] How do
you feel that I didn't notice?

4:45
>> Christopher: I feel that's The perfect response because there's a danger, any time you Stylize
the images in filmmaking, there's a danger that you remind the audience that they are watching
a film. For me, shooting on celluloid film, mixing color and black-and-white which is something i
had done as far back as my film Memento, and I wanted to revisit that technique because I
think it's a great way of making the audience feel differently about a scene, but not necessarily
think about it too much. So it's a form of stylization that I think people are comfortable with. It's
great to hear that, because I did want it to--I wanted it to roll by as more of a feeling that an
idea, if you like.

5:23
>> Stephen: There's mystiqe that's been built around you over many years and your
process. Can we fact-check a few things right here? This is kind of a lightning round.

5:31
You'll either fly to an actor or have them come to you where you will stay on-site as they read
the script the first time.

5:37
>> Christopher: Yes.
>> Stephen: Yes. And why do you do this?
>> Christopher: To keep the script private, to not email scripts around. It's mostly for that and
also to really try and get that immediate reaction, and look in the eyes of the person who has
read it and see, do they see the way I see it? Can we find common ground creatively here?

5:56
>> Stephen: You know how hard it must be to read a script and go "I don't like it, Chris." It's a
little pressure.

6:02
>> Christopher: It's a little pressure. But people can rely on my ability to listen to them say I love
it, it's great. I want to do it. And [then] realize, no, they don't. That's fine.

6:09
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>> Stephen: You print your scripts in red and black ink so they can't be photocopied.

6:13
>> Christopher: Yes and to remind people not to photocopy or share.
>> Stephen: Ok. So more pressure.

6:21
>> Stephen: You don't have a cell phone or email address.
>> Christopher: I don't have an email address. I never use email. I don't have a smartphone. I
will carry a pay a Pay-as-you-go, a dumb phone thing.

6:31
>> Stephen: So you have a burner phone.
>> Christopher: Yes, I suppose you could put it that way.
>> Stephen: Do you work with the cartels? Why do you…
>> Christopher: I was inspired by The Wire definitely.

6:39
>> Stephen: Ok. Great. And when you are done you break it up and put it in two different trash
cans?
>> Christopher: Jason Bourne style, yes.
>> Stephen: You don't allow cell phones or Uggs onset.
>> Christopher: Ah. The Uggs controversy, yes. I don’t allow cell phones on set. I try to minimize
distractions onset.
>> Stephen: Uggs are distracting?
>> Christopher: Well, they can be for the other actors, yes. Because even though we are
engaged in this absurd process where this wall is real but there's lights and there's a guy with a
microphone or whatever, you're asking the actor to focus in on the reality. So everything you
can do, wearing the correct shoes or whatever, not changing your trousers.

7:22
>> Stephen: So this is just for the cast? It’s not like for the crew or anything like that?
>> Christopher: It's for the cast and for me. I'm in there with them trying to concentrate and
trying to see the reality of it, so anything we can do to keep that reality, kinda keep that bubble
intact.
>> Stephen: So the crew can have warm feet.
>> Christopher: The crew can have warm feet.
>> Stephen: Ok. Good. Just making sure.

7:39
The British accent, that's made up, right?
>> Christopher: It’s completely made up.
>> Stephen: it's very convincing.