Christopher Nolan: ‘Biopic’ Is ‘Not a Useful Genre’ and ‘Fails You Completely’
variety.comZack Sharf Digital News Director When Christopher Nolan‘s “Oppenheimer” crossed the $910 million mark at the worldwide box office, it surpassed “Bohemian Rhapsody” to become the highest-grossing biopic in history (unadjusted for inflation).
To date, the “Oppenheimer” box office tally stands at $942 million. But for Nolan, his biographical drama about theoretical physicist and father of the atomic bomb J.
Robert Oppenheimer was never designed as a “biopic.” That’s not a genre Nolan’s brain operates in. Nolan recently joined his producer and wife Emma Thomas and author Kai Bird, whose book “American Prometheus” served as the basis for “Oppenheimer,” for a City University of New York event in which he rejected the concept of the “biopic.” Bird asked Nolan why “Oppenheimer” doesn’t dabble in its title character’s childhood. “There is a tendency in biography post-Freud to attribute characteristics of the person you’re dealing with to their genetics from their parents.
It’s a very reductive view of a human being,” Nolan answered. “If you’re writing a book that’s 500 pages or 1,000 pages, there’s a way to balance that with their individuality and experiences.
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