{"id":50081,"date":"2023-10-30T19:37:19","date_gmt":"2023-10-30T19:37:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/10\/30\/what-the-success-of-oppenheimer-proved-to-christopher-nolans-most-trusted-collaborator\/"},"modified":"2023-10-30T19:37:19","modified_gmt":"2023-10-30T19:37:19","slug":"what-the-success-of-oppenheimer-proved-to-christopher-nolans-most-trusted-collaborator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/10\/30\/what-the-success-of-oppenheimer-proved-to-christopher-nolans-most-trusted-collaborator\/","title":{"rendered":"What the Success of ‘Oppenheimer’ Proved to Christopher Nolan\u2019s Most Trusted Collaborator"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

Christopher Nolan<\/strong>\u2019s sets tend to be massive, but on a good day for his longtime cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema,<\/strong> the space for shooting feels as simplified and bare-bones as a black box theater. On their recent movie Oppenheimer,<\/em> van Hoytema focused on intimacy amid grandiosity, pushing his IMAX camera right up against his actors\u2019 faces. Star Cillian Murphy<\/strong> would look it right in the eye; the rest of the production, elaborate as it was, may as well have been on another planet. \u201cI was in his private space\u2014so it was not only a camera, but also this panting, big, Dutch, hairy camera guy in his face,\u201d van Hoytema says with a laugh. \u201cIt feels like a tiny little student film. And for the actors, that\u2019s also a very safe space.\u201d<\/p>\n

That experience translates in Oppenheimer,<\/em> from the incredibly detailed close-ups of Murphy\u2019s J. Robert Oppenheimer to the relentless pacing achieved for a talky drama about quantum physics. Nolan may be considered a master in his prime here, but that spontaneity\u2014that desire to push the boundaries and see what comes of it\u2014gives his Oscar-contending new film its drive. It\u2019s a testament to the relationship he\u2019s built with van Hoytema over a decade, going back to their first collaboration on 2014\u2019s Interstellar.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe first film I did with Chris, I was just nervous beyond myself,\u201d van Hoytema says. \u201cWe not only speak the same language now, but we\u2019ve gone through experiences where we have tested everything, done everything. We\u2019ve worked with all the craziest cameras we could imagine, shot on the weirdest locations.\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019re speaking from a green room in Savannah, Georgia, where van Hoytema was just honored as part of the SCAD Savannah Film Festival. This will not be his only award stopover of the season. 2017\u2019s Dunkirk<\/em> earned van Hoytema his first Oscar nomination, and the cinematographer has further bolstered his reputation as a major force in the field since, through his recent work with the likes of Jordan Peele<\/strong> (Nope<\/em>) and James Gray<\/strong> (Ad Astra<\/em>). Oppenheimer<\/em> now appears primed to take van Hoytema all the way, a culmination point for his ambitious ongoing project with Nolan to expand the possibilities of theatrical filmmaking in an era where the very form feels under threat. \u201cFor years Chris has been fighting for this cause of giving what, in his belief, is the best possible cinematic experience, and I\u2019ve been with him on that quest,\u201d he says. \u201cYou hear voices coming from other corners, people saying, \u2018This is not how people want to see films anymore. This is not the way we shoot films anymore.\u2019 In that way\u2014this film, yeah, it was a vindication.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n