Oppenheimer's Script Struck Matt Damon With Something He'd Never Seen Before
Matt Damon has been at the top of the movie industry for decades now, and it's safe to say he's read a lot of scripts over the course of his career. His latest role is in "Oppenheimer," in which he plays Lieutenant General Leslie Richard Groves, a real-life historical figure who helped oversee the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb. And Damon says his participation in the film was assured when he read the script and saw it took an approach he had never seen a screenplay take before.
"Oppenheimer" is a true event film that has already left critics stunned, and according to Damon, the script for it was a unique accomplishment all on its own because of the way it was written by writer and director Christopher Nolan. As Damon told Collider in an interview, Nolan's screenplay for "Oppenheimer" was written in the first person rather than following the traditional screenwriting format. And Damon seems to have been quite impressed by the stylistic choice.
Damon says Oppenheimer's script was written in first-person as a way of centering the lead role
Matt Damon and co-star Emily Blunt were interviewed by Collider to promote the "Oppenheimer," and he was asked which of his many films he'd want a newcomer to his work to check out first. Somewhat surprisingly (or maybe not when you remember the primary purpose of the interview), Damon's answer is not "Good Will Hunting" or the "Bourne" movies, but "Oppenheimer."
"Chris [Nolan] always said to us when we were making it, 'I need you guys in support.' That's the mission, basically, is supporting Cillian [Murphy]. This whole movie hinges on that performance. It'll resonate emotionally if we're with that character," Damon said. Then, he revealed an interesting detail about the film's original script. "[Nolan] wrote the script in the first-person, which I'd never seen before. So, instead of saying, 'Oppenheimer walked across the room,' it's, 'I walk across the room.' It just ripped you into that world, and given what's at stake, there's not a more important story out there."
Damon suggested that the first-person script of "Oppenheimer" was a way for the paramount importance of Cillian Murphy's lead performance to be emphasized before filming even began. And the stylistic choice, which would have gone unnoticed by any filmgoer had it not come up in the advance promotion for the movie, seems to have done its work on at least one of the film's stars in terms of both making an impression and conveying the importance of supporting Murphy's portrayal of the titular scientist above all else.
"Oppenheimer" hits theaters on July 21.