Matt Damon and Emily Blunt said that their “Oppenheimer” costar Cillian Murphy didn’t participate in cast dinners during filming because he was dieting as part of playing the titular role.
“Oppenheimer,” written and directed by Christopher Nolan, centers on real-life American theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer (played by Murphy), who’s known as the father of the atomic bomb. The high-stakes thriller is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book “American Prometheus” by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin.
The cast of “Oppenheimer” boasts plenty of notable stars, including Blunt as Kitty Oppenheimer, a biologist and wife of the main character, and Damon as Leslie Groves, the director of the Manhattan Project.
Just as the scientists gathered in the middle of nowhere for their nuclear experimentation, the cast and crew of “Oppenheimer” filmed in a desert that was designed to emulate the look of Los Alamos, New Mexico, in the 1940s.
In a recent interview, Damon and Blunt likened the experience of filming “Oppenheimer” to summer camp — except with plenty of margaritas involved.
“We were in New Mexico together, so we had dinner every night,” Damon explained.
“It’s unusual for all the actors to be on location together,” Blunt said. “We were shooting in this really remote location in the middle of the New Mexican desert and there was one hotel and we were all together. That doesn’t always happen. Normally, everyone’s in their own place or you’re shooting at home or everyone’s got their own house and you don’t hang out.”
Because of the isolated location, the actors said that there was only one restaurant around, so the cast gathered there daily to have meals together.
“It wasn’t like the kind of restaurant that was open 24 hours,” Damon said. “It was open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It was like the dining hall, you would go in and you’d see everybody, so everyone would just end up sitting together.”