'Oppenheimer': Emily Blunt got 'withering' looks from Christopher Nolan for wearing Uggs
![Portrait of Patrick Ryan](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.usatoday.com/gcdn/presto/2022/02/15/USAT/8cbfa233-97b1-49cb-939e-48cc84e59a23-WIN_20200925_14_05_19_Pro_2.jpg?crop=597,597,x132,y21&width=48&height=48&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
NEW YORK â Like most savvy actors, Matt Damon always picks up the phone for Christopher Nolan.
The A-lister, who previously appeared in Nolanâs 2014 film âInterstellar,â was planning to take a break from acting when the Oscar-nominated director called about âOppenheimerâ (in theaters Friday), his chilling new historical drama.
âI had told my wife I was taking time off,â says Damon, speaking to USA TODAY in a joint interview with co-star Emily Blunt before the Screen Actors Guild strike. âThis was something we literally negotiated, but the one caveat was âif Chris Nolan calls.â He was my get-back-to-work card, and then he actually called, which was a wonderful surprise.â
'Oppenheimer':Christopher Nolan made his new movie because he thought he'd die in a nuclear Armageddon
Matt Damon brings levity to the 'wildly unpopular' Leslie Groves
In the white-knuckle epic, Damon plays gruff U.S. Army officer Leslie Groves, who calls on physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) to oversee the creation of the atomic bomb during World War II. Groves was âwildly unpopularâ with the scientists, Damon says, and frequently butted heads with Oppenheimer. But there was still âmutual respectâ between the two men.
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
âTheyâre complete polar opposites,â says Damon, sitting at a hotel in New York's Tribeca neighborhood. âThe military is obsessed with secrecy, and the scientists are trying to get to the root of the problem, which they do by sharing. Groves constantly felt like a kindergarten teacher chasing these guys around. So Chris found some comedy there, which is good for a movie about something so serious.â
âMaybe thatâs why he cast you,â Blunt suggests. âEveryone loves you and you have a natural warmth. If you cast someone unlikable playing someone unlikable, it wouldâve been (alienating).â
Emily Blunt's Kitty Oppenheimer is 'volatile' yet fiercely loyal
Blunt portrays Kitty, Oppenheimerâs caustic, alcoholic wife. When Oppenheimer is probed by government officials about possible Communist ties, she demands that he stop feeling sorry for himself. Sheâs similarly unsympathetic about the death of his former lover.
âKitty didnât do small talk. She only did big talk,â Blunt says. âThereâs a lot about her that wouldnât necessarily be âlikable,â but I donât think she cared. She was such a force of personality.â Toward the end of the film, âsheâs become so volatile and unpredictable â the drinking is out of control. But he says to his defense (team), âKitty and I have walked through fire together, and I believe in her.â Sheâll fight for him when he wonât fight for himself.â
The movie's Trinity test scene was 'beautiful' yet 'nightmarish' to behold
One of the movieâs most thrilling sequences is the Trinity test, when the first nuclear weapon was detonated in the New Mexico desert in 1945. The bombâs mushroom cloud and blinding light were recreated using practical effects.
âBecause the explosion is real, itâs as beautiful as it is nightmarish,â Blunt says. âBecause you know itâs not (computer-generated), you canât dissociate from it.â
âYou canât take your eyes off it, but itâs the most terrible thing youâve ever seen,â Damon adds. Witnessing it on the set, âit was a big boom. Everybody had their earplugs in.â
'Barbenheimer':How a movie meme inspired the 'crazy, weird' double feature
Emily Blunt recalls her 'Devil Wears Prada' moment with director Christopher Nolan
âOppenheimerâ is the second film Blunt, 40, and Damon, 52, have made together, including the 2011 sci-fi thriller âThe Adjustment Bureau.â Blunt says they would âhang out constantlyâ while shooting the latter, going on double dates with her husband, John Krasinski, and Damonâs wife, Luciana Barroso.
âNow weâre vacation buddies and neighbors,â says Blunt, who lives in the same Brooklyn apartment building as Damon. âI know, itâs ridiculous. This is strange not to see Matt in his sweats and slippers.â
âThe only time I wear shoes is when we do interviews together,â Damon quips. âIâve got a great pair of house slippers, and Iâm going to put them right on when I get home. I did accidentally wear my Ugg slippers on a school run once.â
âDo you know who hates Uggs more than anyone?â Blunt asks. âChristopher Nolan. Iâve never known anyone to detest a pair of Uggs more than Chris Nolan. Itâs a testament to how he wants everything on set to look as it would (in the period). If thereâs a plastic bottle in the shot, heâs like, âUgh!â He hates to even look at it. I would sometimes put on some Uggs and Iâd just get this withering look down to my feet â it was like being in âThe Devil Wears Pradaâ again. Just the look down to the shoes. And I'd go, 'I know, I know. But I'm just sitting on an apple box in the background today!' "
As a joke, Blunt gave Nolan a pair of Uggs at the end of the shoot. His wife, Emma Thomas, âwrote to me and was like, âBrilliant wrap gift. Heâs wearing them now,â " Blunt recalls with a laugh. âI was so pleased!â