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Cillian Murphy<\/strong><\/a> praised Oppenheimer<\/em><\/a> costar Florence Pugh<\/strong><\/a> \u2014 and their graphic sex scenes.<\/p>\n \u201cThose scenes were written deliberately,\u201d Murphy, 47, told the Sydney Morning Herald<\/em><\/a> in a recent interview conducted before the SAG-AFTRA strike<\/a>. \u201cHe knew that those scenes would get the movie the rating that it got. And I think when you see it, it\u2019s so f\u2013king powerful. And they\u2019re not gratuitous. They\u2019re perfect. And Florence is just amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n Murphy gushed over his 27-year-old costar\u2019s screen presence. \u201cI have loved Florence\u2019s work since Lady Macbeth<\/em> and I think she\u2019s f\u2013king phenomenal,\u201d the Ireland native added. \u201cShe has this presence as a person and on screen that is staggering. The impact she has [in Oppenheimer<\/em>] for the size of the role, it\u2019s quite devastating.\u201d<\/p>\n Pugh\u2019s small but memorable Oppenheimer<\/em><\/a> role includes several explicit scenes \u2014 and the steamy shots were director Christopher Nolan<\/strong><\/a>\u2018s first sex scenes ever. In the sequences, J. Robert Oppenheimer (Murphy) and his mistress, Jean Tatlock (Pugh), are mid-coitus when Jean starts asking about the scientist\u2019s book collection. She brings him a book, the Hindu holy text the Bhagavad-Gita, to read to her. As he says the infamous quote, \u201cI am become Death, destroyer of worlds,\u201d they return to their passionate love making.<\/p>\n The use of the quote \u2014 which the real-life Oppenheimer famously said came to mind upon testing the atomic bomb \u2014 during a sex scene stirred controversy in India. Uday Mahurkar<\/strong>, journalist and founder of the Save Culture Save India Foundation, issued an open letter to Nolan<\/a> calling the sequence a \u201cdirect assault on religious beliefs of a billion tolerant Hindus,\u201d alleging that Hollywood is more sensitive to depictions of Islam and other religions. (The controversy didn\u2019t stop moviegoers on opening weekend, with Oppenheimer<\/em> toping the box office in India, even surpassing Barbie<\/em><\/a>.)<\/p>\n Less controversial but more surreal is Tatlock and Oppenheimer\u2019s sex scene in the courtroom as he recalls his affair. His wife, Kitty Oppenheimer (Emily Blunt<\/strong><\/a>), is looking on as he recalls the details while being questioned by officials for possible Communist ties. The bizarre setting is intended to show how uncomfortable it was for the titular character to lay out all the intimate details of his life publicly.<\/p>\n Nolan, 52, explained that showing Oppenheimer\u2019s sex life seemed essential to the story. \u201cWhen you look at Oppenheimer\u2019s life and you look at his story, that aspect of his life, the aspect of his sexuality, his way with women, the charm that he exuded, it\u2019s an essential part of his story,\u201d Nolan told Insider<\/a> earlier this month.<\/p>\n He added that it was essential to show how Oppenheimer and Tatlock\u2019s relationship rose above politics.<\/p>\n
\n Cillian Murphy and Florence Pugh.<\/span> PA Images\/INSTARimages<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n