James Cameron Slams Christopher Nolan’s 93% RT Scored ‘Oppenheimer’

James Cameron, the director of classics like The Terminator and Avatar, has talked about Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, the 2023 biopic that tells the story of the scientist in charge of creating the nuclear bomb. Cameron is preparing his own movie on the subject, the adaptation of Charles Pellegrino’s book Ghosts of Hiroshima. However, it won’t follow the same storyline as Oppenheimer. Ghosts of Hiroshima tells the story from the perspective of those who were on the other side of the blast. When asked about Oppenheimer, and how his film could be compared to Nolan’s, Cameron marked the difference by saying that the 2023 film was a bit of a “moral cop-out” because it didn’t tell the whole story.

Oppenheimer is a very important film. It represented Nolan’s long-awaited recognition at the Oscars, as the film won seven of its 13 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. Not only that, but it made nearly $1 billion at the box office. Cameron says that Ghosts of Hiroshima will most likely be his lowest-grossing film ever, and he states the following when comparing his take with Nolan’s story, which focuses on J. Robert Oppenheimer’s life and not much more:

“Yeah…it’s interesting what he stayed away from. Look, I love the filmmaking, but I did feel that it was a bit of a moral cop out.

“Because it’s not like Oppenheimer didn’t know the effects. He’s got one brief scene in the film where we see — and I don’t like to criticize another filmmaker’s film – but there’s only one brief moment where he sees some charred bodies in the audience and then the film goes on to show how it deeply moved him.

“But I felt that it dodged the subject. I don’t know whether the studio or Chris felt that that was a third rail that they didn’t want to touch, but I want to go straight at the third rail. I’m just stupid that way.”

How Oppenheimer is the Culmination of Christopher Nolan’s Career

From Memento to Interstellar, Dunkirk and Tenet, all of Christopher Nolan’s films have prepared him for tackling the story of Oppenheimer.

Oppenheimer is based on the 2005 biography American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. Although it doesn’t try to be as historically accurate as possible, there was some criticism because it did not show the bombings. The Deadline piece quotes Nolan’s response: “I hope somebody tells that story, but to me, this wasn’t that story.” To this, Cameron responds with: “Okay, I’ll put up my hand. I’ll do it, Chris. No problem. You come to my premiere and say nice things.”

‘Oppenheimer’ Has Been Officially Declared One of the Best Movies of the 21st Century

Benny Safdie as Edward Teller wearing sunscreen and sunglasses looking at the Trinity test explosion in Oppenheimer — Universal Pictures

Although Cameron might have his opinion on the matter, there are others who have recently praised the biopic. The 2023 film was recently included in the New York Times list of the best movies of the 21st century so far. Not only did Oppenheimer make the list, but Nolan is the director with the most entries on the list. The selection was made by a group of over 500 filmmakers, actors, and critics.

Nolan’s films on the list include 2014’s Interstellar (ranked at #89), 2023’s Oppenheimer (ranked at #65), 2000’s Memento (ranked at #62), 2010’s Inception (ranked at #55), and 2008’s The Dark Knight (ranked at #28).

Source: Deadline