Producer Jason Hillhouse joins the podcast for a discussion of the summer blockbuster OPPENHEIMER, directed by Christopher Nolan. Now approaching one billion in worldwide box office, the film is a testament to the power of evocative filmmaking. Jason produced the extras documentary on the physical media release, THE STORY OF OUR TIME: THE MAKING OF OPPENHEIMER. He shares stories from the set and some of the many things he learned about the filmmaking process that make this film such a compelling visual experience. OPPENHEIMER has also been a huge physical media success, with the 4K selling out on the release date. We discuss how the film is an example of the relevance of physical media at a time when the studios seem to be losing faith in the medium.
Purchase on Amazon:
OPPENHEIMER 4K
OPPENHEIMER SCRIPT
AMERICAN PROMETHEUS Book
The Extras Facebook page
The Extras Twitter
Warner Archive & Warner Bros Catalog Group
Otaku Media produces podcasts, behind-the-scenes extras, and media that connect creatives with their fans and businesses with their consumers. Contact us today to see how we can work together to achieve your goals. www.otakumedia.tv
Producer Jason Hillhouse joins the podcast for a discussion of the summer blockbuster OPPENHEIMER, directed by Christopher Nolan. Now approaching one billion in worldwide box office, the film is a testament to the power of evocative filmmaking. Jason produced the extras documentary on the physical media release, THE STORY OF OUR TIME: THE MAKING OF OPPENHEIMER. He shares stories from the set and some of the many things he learned about the filmmaking process that make this film such a compelling visual experience. OPPENHEIMER has also been a huge physical media success, with the 4K selling out on the release date. We discuss how the film is an example of the relevance of physical media at a time when the studios seem to be losing faith in the medium.
Purchase on Amazon:
OPPENHEIMER 4K
OPPENHEIMER SCRIPT
AMERICAN PROMETHEUS Book
The Extras Facebook page
The Extras Twitter
Warner Archive & Warner Bros Catalog Group
Otaku Media produces podcasts, behind-the-scenes extras, and media that connect creatives with their fans and businesses with their consumers. Contact us today to see how we can work together to achieve your goals. www.otakumedia.tv
Hey, it's Tim Mallard here and today on the podcast, I have my good friend and extras producer, jason Hillhouse, joining us and we're going to talk about the film Oppenheimer, which came out July 21st of 2023 and it's directed by Christopher Nolan and it was a huge blockbuster hit. It's near the billion dollar worldwide box office mark and probably will surpass it, and we're in the pre-award season and I think it's probably going to receive a lot of nominations and possibly win for best picture. It'll be right up there. I'm pretty sure we're going to talk about the movie.
Speaker 1:If you haven't seen the movie, we will have spoilers, so be alerted for that, because we want to be able to talk about the movie that we both really enjoyed and because Jason worked on the extras, he's going to give us background on some of the interviews that he did and visits to the set and things of that nature. So I'm sure we'll talk about the film and details that will give things away, so be aware of that in case you don't want to listen to the episode until after we've had a chance to watch the film. But I think you'll enjoy our discussion. So I think one of the first things I was wondering, jason, was when did you kind of first start working with Christopher Nolan?
Speaker 2:Oh, my goodness, our team kind of worked. A group of us were working on Batman Begins Corey Watson and Jeff Lerner and Lisa Blonde and a lot of folks on that first Batman Begins DVD, epk stuff and I produced a piece and did some interviews and whatever. But the first sort of solo thing I did was the good old HD DVD stuff, the big picture and picture kind of stuff that happens Then, yeah, just kind of evolved from there. We didn't work on the prestige because that was Disney and we weren't doing a whole lot of Disney stuff at the time. But from Dark Knight on I've been lucky enough to be asked back just every time. I feel like this could be the last one, but so far so good. Knock on wood, I've been lucky enough to watch this extraordinary filmmaker do what he does.
Speaker 1:I mean it's an impressive run of films that he's had and I mean I go back to Memento and I've been so impressed with just everything he's done Prestige I really enjoyed prestige as well. Just looking at IMDB just to remind myself. And then I'm looking through my shelves and I'm like I know I have all of these films, but I don't not quite all of them.
Speaker 2:Well it's funny one of the brothers did a cool 4K release after was it after Dunkirk or after Tenet, I can't remember Kind of when 4K first kind of kicked in. They did a box set release of a bunch of his movies and I don't know, I don't even remember who owns the rights to Memento or whatever. But we did a ten year anniversary conversation where it was really just him talking. We typically cut me out of our conversations but yeah, it's a remarkable run, even right all the way. I don't know if you've ever seen following, but when you think about that movie and the way that they made that movie kind of like shooting one day a week just with friends on 60 mil over the course of like a year or so and the fact that it's as complete and feels like a movie, like a lot of people's first movie you can see the seams and it's an amazing debut. I think it's on criterion, I think, but I'm not sure. If you haven't seen that, check it out. It's really good too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's available, you know, like on Amazon, to buy the Blu-ray or whatever. But Lionsgate, I believe, is Memento. So you have a few different studios involved and I don't know is this the first time he's been with Universal? Yeah, most of his films there with Warner Brothers of course, when I was there working, you know he would come into the floor and everybody of course was very excited the days when he would come in, because he has always been very active and very supportive of the physical media release. Good and bad of that is that of course, when he's active he wants it done his way and everybody else has to kind of revolve around that world and his schedule.
Speaker 1:So if he was working on the film late and people couldn't get access to masters or something, obviously you would know about this. You're cutting and trying to kind of anticipate things and going right down to the wire, but you would always want that. You always want somebody who knows what they want and will then publicize and promote and put their efforts into making it something that people want to buy. And one of the reasons why, when you said you were working on this release of Oppenheimer, that I thought it would be great to have you on the podcast was because this is a great example of why physical media matters. I know the 4K sold out and of course, universal quickly tried to get more, but they had to put out a message hey, we're trying to get more out there into the distribution pipeline.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's unheard of nowadays. Right like I mean, it is a gift, it really is for a filmmaker to care that much. Not, you know. I mean they are obviously hyper focused on making their films and you know that's a huge undertaking just making a movie is, you know, it's impossible and then to actually, you know, a lot of times they approve stuff or watch stuff. But there's some filmmakers that they're just like once they're done with the movie, you know they may or may not even approve the DVD or the 4K Master.
Speaker 2:You know, and the fact that you know Chris and Emma and Andy Thompson and everybody is so involved and it's so nice because it really, you know we all up our game and also just the access you know that we have to the HODs and different things. You know every filmmaker is different in terms of the way they work on set with you know, behind the scenes crews and things like that. But it's, it really is, it's a, it's a blessing that he cares that much and I think he said recently something about how much he loves behind the scenes stuff on other people's movies and we strike a great balance because he's got such a fan base and you know, and I'm of the mindset too. You know every movie, what we do, the documentary, behind the scenes stuff, you know you tailor, make it for whatever the movie is or the filmmaker, or you know there's not like just one way to do this stuff right. But you know, having parameters and knowing I don't, I don't love Seeing all of the magic tricks like just laid out in front of me either. You know, I mean I like the sense of the behind the scenes stuff. You know those early. You know star wars things they would show on PBS or they show some of those. You know John Dykstra with the blue screens and the tie fighters and and the matte paintings and some of those things just captured.
Speaker 2:You know my imagination, just as a young film fan and as an older film fan, and you know there's a market for it and I think people love Not just the physical media and especially when a filmmaker puts the time and to make the movie look as good as it can possibly Look at home. You know, obviously Chris is a big proponent for seeing things in theaters and having that experience and he makes movies for that. But Movies live on at home and there's going to be generations of people that discover movies and they're not always playing in the theater, right, like they have their window, and sometimes they get re released and things like that. But the home experiences is really important, I think, and you know just kind of streaming has its purposes as well. You know where there's it's.
Speaker 2:I always equate those kinds of things like physical media to. You know magazines. I like reading a good quick magazine article, but I also like reading a novel, right, and there's room for both those things. I love a good comic book and I love a good graphic novel. You know like there's there's a wide variety of things and when everything becomes sort of this intangible, you know music, super compressed, or you know streaming movies and it's kind of stuttering or it's kind of not the quality that you want it to be here. You know what I mean. Like those kinds of things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's some things that you just want to. You want to see and all of its glory and really take it all in, and Oppenheimer is a great example of with this cast. It's just remarkable. And the IMAX and the close ups and seeing the details in the performances. You know these actors faces, I would point out, mentioned in the documentary something about, you know, shooting with IMAX, shooting these, these vistas. Right, we're out in the new Mexico and shooting these amazing Scenery is kind of what we imagine IMAX to be big action sequences and stuff. And Chris's he said his and Chris's take was what about the face is a landscape. You know all the actors talked about it too, and you see it in the film killians performance in particular. You know Downey and Emily Blunt for, like all those guys, the details, the twitches, the little twitches in their faces and just how much is going on in those performances, really, really captured so well in that 4k.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, I think that too what you are saying. My sense is that Christopher, obviously the theatrical is the focus, that's the making of the film and that's the way he wants people to receive it. And when you go to one of his films, you feel that you feel that the utmost care and craftsmanship of Christopher and all of the people that make up a crew to produce these and make these films, that they want to make the best experience visually, like viscerally, audio, lee, they want to bring you into that world Documentary, which will get to in a bit, really hones in on in the camera, on set, on location, because we know how that impacts the actors when they walk onto a set, when they're dressed in period, when they're doing everything right there. There's that performance, that energy, you know that comes together, of doing something live and knowing that. Look, this isn't just gonna be taking care of later in some computer. We have to do this and we have to do it now and get the best.
Speaker 1:And you feel that, I feel that when you watch one of his movies and then he has the appreciation and understanding, like you and I do that the next place where you want to have that same care and that same experience is at home. So you want to replicate on the smaller screen, of course, but in your own home that same audio experience, that same visual experience. And then he also understands that you're creating a product and those extras, the behind the scenes, the feature at the interviews, the panels, anything that goes on, that's part of the package to get you to buy it. Yeah, yeah, you do it again and do it again, and then watch all these things and learn, and he understands that that that only increases his fan base when he does Sure well and I think you know, and hats off to Universal, of course, for Just being so supportive of that.
Speaker 2:You know, I mean, it's, it's, it's a weird time right and in the industry and All the, all the folks that I worked with directly and folks that I work with sort of indirectly and and the folks that you know Chris worked with, that I didn't work with, you know whatever, but just everybody at Universal was so supportive of our behind the scenes stuff and what we were trying to do.
Speaker 2:You know, both Pre-release and post release for the documentary and you need that, you need you need a filmmaker that cares about it, but you also need the studio to get behind that idea and see the value in it. And they really did. They really stepped up and I'm just I'm super proud of the whole package on the 4k. You know the I didn't it wasn't all my thing, obviously, or whatever, but the parts that I had to do with them, just I'm really proud of the home I wouldn't call it home video, I don't know what, what you call it anymore, but the but the home release of, you know, of the film and just getting to play any kind of part and it was Is really something I'm really proud of.
Speaker 1:Well, before we get into a little bit of asking you about the making of that documentary, yeah, I did want to circle around a little bit, just of the phenomenon that Oppenheimer is sure that is because it's still continuing and it's being brought back to theaters over the holiday, I believe. I mean, it's so close to that billion dollar market, may have even achieved it by now because of the re-release, but I know it was at what? Nine hundred fifty million worldwide. So it's inching up there to that billion mark, if it's not over it already.
Speaker 1:But a movie this complex, this long, a biopic of sorts, I mean this is unheard of box office. And then, coming out of the pandemic, yeah, it's been pretty difficult to get people in theaters to begin with, and this is not an easy story. This is not, you know, it's not just a popcorn movie. This makes you think it jumps around just like a lot of his movies do. It plays with time sequences and he had little tricks with the black and white and otherwise to help you keep those separated. But what do you think is the reason why it's so connected with the public?
Speaker 2:Tim, if we could answer that question, we would bottle that and you and I would both be on an island somewhere. Yeah, chris would too. But yeah, I mean, I think, if anybody, if anybody, could bottle that I mean just speaking, for obviously I'm only speaking for myself or any of this stuff but I was certainly surprised. I mean, I knew it's a Chris Nolan movie, so automatically you know and I've worked on enough of him that it's gonna be good. Like you know, he's never made a bad movie, you know. So there's that confidence that you know it's gonna be good and he's got an incredible fan base, and to that point, though, I think this is gonna sound dumb in a way, but for me it restored my faith in a lot of the things that you and I talked about. The home video thing did as well. Right, where there's groups of us, you know, on the far corners of the internet, or you know, having coffee together or whatever it is where we're like, physical media is fantastic, it's not dead, there's a rabid fan base, and it's the same sort of thing for this type of movie. Right, you know, on paper, with all of the algorithms that studios may or may not use to, you know, make new sequels and franchises and whatever it is. There's not gonna be like an Oppenheimer or a Sennemite universe, right, this was an original story from one of our greatest filmmakers and there's an audience for that and it's not just his rabid fan base. You know, those of us that are part of his rabid fan base, you know, saw it several times, but not that many times to. You know. It reached the net, went really wide and it really it did. It restored sort of my faith in you know, the last, however many years where we've all gone into the pandemic and come out of the pandemic and everybody's like, oh, theaters are dead. You know, the same way they were like, oh, dvd is dead or whatever it is. It's like, no, dude, it's not and it's. But we needed somebody to prove that. You know, we needed something to show us that you know as much.
Speaker 2:I love all kinds of movies. I love great movies, good movies, serious movies, comedies, comic book movies. I love everything. I'm a big comic book guy, but not at the expense of you know. There needs to be room for everything. Again, it's kind of that magazine novel thing, right, where I love to read a good magazine. I love to read a good novel. I like all of it. I don't want everything to just be bite-sized magazine articles, and it did it really. I was like it was just great to have the justification of what I've kind of been.
Speaker 2:My friends and I and you know different people have been like, ah, cinema's not dead. They, people want to go to the movies, people love movies. And they don't just want to go to the movies, they want to be challenged, they want to see something they've never seen before, they want to see stories. I mean, movies are, you know, obviously relatively new in the space of world history, but we've always looked to stories and things like that from theater and the Greeks and not, you know, like that's not going anywhere. That's and it's something that not just the 20th century discovered and loved. It's something that I think is important for all of us and before this whole world goes down in the idiocracy.
Speaker 2:You know the Mike Judge movie. You know people like, ah, it's a documentary. I'm like, ah, it might be. This is something that you point to and go okay, wait, there's hope. There's hope that there's definitely a lot of like-minded people that want to see these types of movies and want to own physical media of these types of stories. I don't know what it is, other than it's nice to be able to, every once in a while, point and be like, yeah, I knew it, I knew what I told you.
Speaker 1:So you know I'm going to point to a couple of things. Just get your opinion. But I think one thing is trust. And that might sound strange, but I think people trust Christopher Nolan. They trust that it's going to be thoughtful, they trust that it's going to be entertaining and they trust that it's going to be an exceptional experience. And I think they also feel the same way about the physical media product of his movies. It's going to be an exceptional audio and visual experience when you are at home. And I think that trust is really.
Speaker 1:It's not something you can measure on a survey, you know, or some kind of a focus group or thing of that nature. What it is, it's built over 20 years, 30 years of a career that you say, huh, not a film. I would necessarily have penciled that I would go see a film about Oppenheimer, because you've seen documentaries, you've seen other stories about him. It's not an unknown story and I think in the documentary Chris even says his 16 year old son was like I don't know dad. Yeah right, we're just so like. I think people are going to be that interested in it.
Speaker 2:It's so crazy, because I mean growing up in the in the 70s, in the 80s and particularly the 80s I mean maybe just because that's when I was a teenager, you know in the 70s, of little work, carefree or something, but I mean that was just such a thing, like that was such a thing, and there was all these movies and all these songs and Genesis would land of confusion and staying with Russians, and just it was. It was just so in pop culture. You know that even TV movies like the day after tomorrow or you know, like this, it was such a thing right, red dawn and War games and you know all these pop culture big things in the 80s, it was such a such a thing and it, yeah, it hasn't gone away. I mean it's still like there's nothing. Nothing has changed other than we just all stopped worrying about it.
Speaker 2:Because I mean, look if you, if we sat and really thought about it all the time, chris said it Well, we just go, you go crazy. You know like, just you know you have to live your life a little bit, but it's something that we can't just ignore. I mean it's still very much a, very much a thing and it's a. It's a amazingly for events that happened 80 years ago, 50 years ago, you know, ongoing throughout the course of that movie. These the story.
Speaker 1:There's so many things in that story that are still so, so, relevant today and and I think that struck a chord I mean certainly with me and, I would imagine, other audience, you know, yeah, people worldwide well, I guess, when I think of the other big movie of 2023, historically that people are gonna always remember from a box office standpoint, and that's Barbie, I Think to myself, okay, barbie sounds like a concept that if it's done, you know well, it should be a popular movie, it should be a mainstream movie, it should do pretty well Not every, as we know, game and in toy movie, adaptations don't always do well but it feels like it has a safer floor, right. It feels like, okay, I think we, you know, we can try to market this to families and so on, so forth. And then you watch that movie and you see that it actually took quite a few risks, yeah, which is really, and that's probably why it went from just being a okay movie to really Doing well, because it did take those risks. But I think of that and I'm like, okay, if I was the studio, I would feel a little more comfortable Maybe taking on that risk. Sure, not, of course, if you believe in the director, christopher Nolan, which this all the studios do. So that's not, that's not gonna be unique to universal, but it was a great partnership.
Speaker 1:The fact that kind of blows my mind is just how well it did? I mean, if it had done 500 million worldwide, I think people would have been very, very exceptionally happy, especially in these times. But to be up at that billion dollar mark, I mean that's just that to me, is phenomenal and there's a lesson to be learned there. I don't know what that is exactly, other than when I point to what I say kind of like a trust and the fact that people know they're gonna have a unique experience when they go to see this movie. It's not gonna be a retread, it's not gonna be a franchise burnout kind of scenario that the studios do you feel like they're forcing down your throat or anything. And the other thing is is, because it's not part of a franchise, because it's a one-off, all the the negatives become the positive.
Speaker 1:This is your only chance to see it. You're not gonna see these characters again in another movie in next year. There's no multiverse to go with this. This is it. It's all hacked into these three hours. So that makes it unique and it makes it something that you then want to own uniquely. Yeah, you know, it's a real case for physical media, as we, as you mentioned earlier, because of how it's just been embraced by the fans so well, we should probably talk about your documentary. How long it's a? It's a beast, because it covers everything. It's split up into into segments, but it's fantastic. Thanks, man. I sat there and I watched. I didn't even have to stop and go get popcorn or anything in between, because it was fascinating to watch.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you, I'm glad. I'm glad you enjoyed it. That's, I mean we. You know, one of the things I Want to do and just by the nature of the people involved and and everybody was super cool, I mean everybody. Usually, you know, chris doesn't work with people that aren't nice people, you know, which is great for me because I Introducing all these people and they're all, they're all extremely nice. But I wanted it to be entertaining and informative, right Like that was our goal. Eddie Thompson is works with Chris and he works with me on these things.
Speaker 2:And then, you know, I had a team editor, a mere so Korean Ryan material and we, we Really that was kind of one of the things is finding, finding moments where it's, you know, it's not a big, because it's a big, super serious subject matter in the movie anyway.
Speaker 2:And you know, there's there's moments of levity in the movie and stuff like that. And we wanted to kind of reflect, like we do with any movie, like every, like I said before, every, every one of these things is kind of unique and we want them to feel like part of the movie in terms of when it goes on a package, you know, it's not like, oh, now it's time for some wacky gag reels or something that you know Like for, for Hoppinheimer is not really what you're, what you're looking to do, right, unique stories to tell. But we also, you know, want people that it's not just a big history lesson. So we wanted to be entertaining and show and a lot of these people there's they're great. You know, the cast was fantastic. All the the HODs are are fantastic and these are really funny, interesting, creative people and we wanted to try to give everybody room to shine.
Speaker 1:Had you worked with some of them before, because it feels like he keeps a lot of the same Least department heads yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sure, there were some new. There were some new people this time and and they were all game. You know, I mean Ruth DeJean, bless her heart, you know, showing up to set early so that she can walk me in our cameraman Simon first around the sets of Los Alamos. You know she didn't have to do that. You know, like that, that was that was really. You know, she really spent a lot of time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, all the guy Andrew Jackson and Scott Fisher, like I've met them before, and on other other projects and stuff. So, yeah, some of the people we knew before and some of them were or knew, they find this a lot on certain projects and a lot of you know, obviously, a lot of crystal products, but everybody's just happy to be there. They're excited. They know they're working toward making something special. I was just talking to the casting director the other day and we're talking about just the quality of actors that they Pulled in. I mean, you know it's a Chris Nolan movie. So you know people you know are happy to show up at just remarkable that you know people come in for like a day or come in for today. You know these, like you know big actors that are that are doing and not in a overexposed cameo way, but in a very real part of an ensemble sort of way, and everybody was just excited and happy to be there. And Then we're happy fortunately for me, happy to talk about it.
Speaker 1:You know, having worked on these, when I watch them I probably have like a baseline of well, you know, you have to talk to the these people and you want to get these people and then hopefully you'll get some more and some more voices, and when it turns out really well, you've had a nice robust amount of people from different parts of the film, not just the producers. When you only have the producers doing 80% of the talking you know that it was it was difficult to get everybody else. Either they had flown the coop and the film was over and they were now on to their next project, or you just didn't have the budget to get on set. You know various reasons, but it did feel like in this one, at the beginning, the first two or three segments, there's a lot of course, with Christopher and Emma, you know they tell the story of the origin and beginning, which is fascinating, but then, as it goes, you've got all the different department heads, you've got a lot of the actors in there, so there's a tremendous amount of variety.
Speaker 1:That's why it's just entertaining throughout the whole piece, because you're not seeing the same face, right, same voice, 30, 40 minutes into this. You're actually hearing from the department heads. You're seeing them at the visual effects and the special effects. I mean that's a fascinating collaboration. Yeah, and you're hearing from some of the IMAX people. I mean there's just so much there that you were able to get, which is fantastic. So tell me a little bit about that whole process. Did you get to New Mexico a few different times or most?
Speaker 1:of this happened after.
Speaker 2:No, I mean it's a mix of both. Right On this one. We don't go every day, you know, we're not, it's not one of those types of deals. But we were there a lot on set. Simon and I kind of are for the most part our little two person band, our little crew, and, bless his heart, he had to basically live with me for months on it and my wife will tell you that's not an easy thing to do. But we, yeah, we were in New Mexico and all over New Mexico, right, like just different places, you know, because where they built Los Alamos was, you know, way out from Santa Fe and then where the Trinity test stuff was was a couple hours back the other way, and so we were all over New Mexico and then we went to New Jersey for the Institute of Advanced Studies stuff, where Einstein was, and then actually in Los Alamos I'm sorry I jumped back to New Mexico, but actually in Los Alamos is some of those places where I mean really where that stuff took place, right Like the Coralodge and Oppenheimer's actual house, where he lived while he was in, and just unbelievable, you know, and talking to, you know, killian and Emily and stuff about that and just what that, how that helps their performance. You know, like I mean, these are professional actors that are used to green screens. We're going to make it happen and it's going to work. Or you know big, elaborate, cool sets or volumes or what you know, whatever it is. But there's something. There is something special about sometimes being in the real place. Tom Conti played Einstein, got a big kick out of walking around IAS looking like he did, you know, and people take that and stuff, and he had a good time with that and then we shot around kind of LA areas and stuff like that a little bit.
Speaker 2:For our part of it, like I said, we weren't there every day, but we were there. We were there quite a bit. You know they were. Everybody was very, you know, generous and open, especially considering I hate, I don't they're making a movie right, these people are trying to make this movie. They're trying to make as good a movie as they can and I don't want to be a distraction. You know we don't want to be. You know we need an actor on set and we're over here doing some kind of stand up and stuff, and then there's some sets that you know where the director's like way into that and we want to, you know, do that and that's fine too. But just me, personally, I just we kind of want to just be on the outside looking in. You know what I mean. Like, I tend to like the more of the fly on the wall sort of thing than the, hey, we're right up here in the, you know, right up here in their faces and stuff, and it's an interesting perspective, you know, to be able to watch these things unfold in that way.
Speaker 2:But yeah, and then people were very generous with their time while we were on set. The actors, you know, taking time to do interviews and I can't tell you how many times, you know, you get an actor and you know it's not always their favorite thing to do right, like they're trying to make again, they're trying to make a movie, but they're also like, oh, we're doing another interview for what you know, whatever it's a time, or it's behind the scenes time, or whatever it is, and they're okay, okay, and they'll, you know, give me five minutes. Hey, no, no, we'll be right back, and then you never see him again, or things like that. But these guys were so generous with their time. In fact, one day I'll tell you a quick story, just to sing his praises.
Speaker 2:Matt Damon sat with me. We did 15, 20 minutes or whatever, and he got called. You know he had to go back to set and he's like are you finished, are you? You know you're good. And I'm like, oh, dude, we'll make it work. It's fine If you need me to come back. I'll like, dude, if you could, I've got a few more. Yes, sure, but we're fine. Honestly, we're. You know whatever. And and they were like okay, matt's going to come back. I'm like he's not coming back. I mean, I don't blame him, I wouldn't come back. You know what I mean. Like I did it, I'm done. You know, I checked it off my list. I've done my. He came back. You know, a couple hours later he came back. All right, what else we got, you know, and it that's nothing to do with how charming I am. It's just how much these guys are invested in this, in this, in this project, where we're really, really going the extra mile to. They're just happy to be there and excited to talk about it.
Speaker 2:Yeah very, very cool and and I mean all the, all, the, all the main actors, I mean I wound up interviewing them several times. You know, we like we did it on set and we did some of the HOD stuff on set and we, you know, andrew Jackson, scott Fisher, were so cool about letting us go into the visual effects tent and that was fantastic yeah.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's so great. And you know, we we teased stuff but we didn't want to give away everything you know like, but we were like here's the kind of stuff they were doing, but we didn't really want to. You know, we don't want to ruin the movie for anybody, right, right, well, I think I think so it's so nice to let us do that. And Ruth, given his tours of the set and just, you know, everybody was super, super generous.
Speaker 2:But then after the fact, to your long-winded way of answering your question, we did interviews after the fact with everybody and a lot of times I like to do with, especially with some of the actors, it's cool to do both, like while they're kind of in it and I mean you need a lot of that stuff for pre-release pieces and stuff anyway, but but after they've seen the movie, then you have a different perspective, you know, you know a little bit of distance from it. So it's cool to kind of get to get both. I mean, I think they were probably all sick of seeing me at some point, but uh, I didn't notice that.
Speaker 1:I obviously they're in costume, they're in period, so I could see. Those were the interviews that you did, you know, on set, yeah, and those that you shot in this empty stage was going to be later. And I agree with you, I love getting the combination and the studio needs both, of course. Yeah, because when you're in it you haven't seen the finished product. So those actors, they're just in the scene, they're just in the midst of whatever this they're filming, but there's also an immediacy to their character that might start to fade a little later. So you get that from them and you get the kind of uncertainty, but later on then you get the perspective and what that experience was like, even in this case, like I read the script.
Speaker 2:You know a few times I was there a lot for filming and you know watching them make the movie and you know all that stuff. Then, seeing the movie I had a whole new set of quite. You know like I, I it was, it was the best of all the worlds. You know we don't always get that. You know like sometimes you just get what you get on set or sometimes you don't get to go on set and having having the opportunity to kind of have that whole thing, and that only happens because of of the studio support and of the filmmakers and the actors and everybody being so generous with their time, but to me it makes it a much better, a better viewing experience for people at home for the documentary.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and this is not a movie where you're talking about how they did CGI or things of that nature, but because they did practical things such as filming with these pretty huge IMAX cameras and then doing effects in the camera itself. You're showing that behind the scenes. That's pretty fascinating stuff. But because they're talking about it, you're not giving away, as you said. You're not giving away any secrets that they're not willing to share. Sure, you know they're like, hey look, this is what we did, but it took hours, days, weeks of experimentation. Right, you just did it in camera.
Speaker 1:Weeks, how does it look? Slow it down, speed it, and I can't remember which one of the. The gentleman said I just wanted to shoot it as fast as possible so I could determine if it's a road we should continue to pursue and go down. And Christopher, take a look, say yeah, yeah, yeah, I think, I think that's something. Keep working on that. Yeah, and so you were able to capture that by being on set. They could have told the story afterwards, but then you wouldn't have gotten the b-roll right Actually doing it and them opening up for you guys to go in there and film them and everything.
Speaker 2:Well, it was such a cool, unique partnership that those guys had with the visual effects and the special effects really working hand in hand in such a and that's that. You know, a lot of times you sit down and you do these these interviews with people and everybody's like, oh, everybody was great and everybody got along and it was so collaborative. And you're like, yeah, okay, whatever. And I know I was there, I saw what it were. But in this case it's all true and everybody to a T, unprompted by me, you know what everybody really Really helped each other out in the spirit of collaboration.
Speaker 2:I mean, obviously, you know Chris and Emma lead the charge and Set the tone and it just it's a remarkable thing to see and again, that's part of you know, like we, we step back and sort of watch this Machine.
Speaker 2:You know work and some of the challenges that that pop up along the way. You know the, the plans coming to fruition or trying things and experimenting, and it's just such a, it's just such a joy to be able to, to be able to watch. You know, as somebody who loves movies, you know to watch that stuff come together and and those two guys were a great example of of. Really, you know, everybody just checks their ego at the door and and is there to just do the best work they can and they're all happy and excited to be there. And that's just an example of those guys together Did something really unique and special that you know, if they'd been Siloed off to do, okay, you're doing just this and you're doing just this it, you know, they're both excellent at what they do and it would have been very cool, but the fact that they got to work that way, you know, excited them.
Speaker 1:They, you know it made for something really unique and really special, I think yeah, the best behind the scenes Just gives you a little bit more understanding of aha. I Didn't realize when I'm watching the movie how that decision was such an important part of the storytelling. So why don't we visit a couple of those? Tell me about script, because that was a unique story.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, you, you referring to that how he wrote it, I mean in the first person, in that kind of I mean Saying they're on camera.
Speaker 2:I've never read a script like that before well, let's see, that's the fun part for me, right, like so I read it and I'm like it took me a second and I'm going back over and I'm like, okay, okay, oh, okay, okay, you know, because it is, it's, it's. I've never. I've read a lot of scripts. I haven't read every script. I don't know I can't speak to you know, I Don't know that anybody's ever done it quite like that before, but it was To me and, and you know, I think everybody talked about it in the documentary like it instantly set the tone of sort of this is going to be a very subjective thing and Chris, you know, talked in the documentary about he wanted people to feel like they were in the room, right, they're in the bunker with the guys and that part of that's a large format, part of the sink. But even in the script, sort of this, this very this is this movies called Oppenheimer. It's not called the Manhattan Project or you know, whatever it is, or the Trinity test or what you know. It's called Oppenheimer and it's that's part of it, obviously a huge part of his story. But there's a lot going into it, which is why you know, and I, you know, reading the book American Prometheus, which is just a remarkable book and it took those guys, good Lord, forever to write this thing and it's it's a big, thick book, but it's it's. It's riveting, and I was my.
Speaker 2:My first takeaway was I was embarrassed About how much I didn't know about Oppenheimer and, oh yeah, the Trinity test. Yeah, okay, I know what that is like. You said, you know before there's been movies and Dock it like. But how much of that story I didn't know. And then I was like, well, what's wrong with the American school system? It's not my fault, I'm not. I'm not that dumb, but Just how amazing, amazing a life and what a rich story it was. It was going to be, you know. But yeah, I'd never seen that and nobody that I talked to had seen seen anything quite like that either.
Speaker 2:I'm not exactly sure what I Wouldn't speak for him. I don't know what you know compelled him to do it, but it was amazingly effective as a read. You know, I think the the scripts for sale, you know you can buy it on whatever at this point it's, it's. It's a very, very interesting read and because you obviously don't know, you read it says black and white or color in the script, but the changing from the first person to third person Serves the purpose reading it, that it does when it goes to color and black and white when you watch it. So it's you know it's a. It's a very effective to me. It was a very effective read in my opinion.
Speaker 1:Well, that's not the type of thing you would necessarily know upon watching the movie. Of course, the script is, this is the script, the screenplay is a screenplay and the movie is the movie. But when you go to saying what the behind the scenes of this movie is, it can often start with the script, and this being in that first person, which is unusual. You know the cast when they read it. This mean was shocking to them. When you read it was shocking other people. But it had this ability to draw people in and help them visualize what this film could be, and I think that in and of itself is a terrific, you know, writing task to be able to accomplish. But then when it gets to the, to the film, you know you're obviously gonna use the camera to do all of Story time.
Speaker 2:For me to say that you know, like nobody cares. You know, oh, jason, thought it was going on, who cares? But wait, you know again, my job is now talking to these people Killian Murphy, or you know Robert, any junior, or you know hoida, or you know any of these people. When they say it, you know, when they're like wow, this was something really unique and different and this kind of inspired, you know, little little spark in me about what we should do. What you know, that's that. You know that's that's my job.
Speaker 2:There is that, you know, to get that across, because you know, then hopefully People see the movie before they watch the documentary.
Speaker 2:That's always a thing I'm like well, we don't do like spoilers, like crazy, you know, or anything like that. But there's also, you know it's behind the scenes. So if you're watching a behind the scenes thing before you've seen the actual movie, then you deserve to have it ruined for you Something to do. But hopefully then you go back and watch the movie again after you watch the documentary, armed with some new knowledge and and you know, perspective of Kind of what, you know the actors and the filmmakers and and things that we're thinking, and you appreciate the movie and, like you said earlier, like in a little bit of a deeper way, and I gotta tell you, especially for a 3-hour movie, this movie's gotten better every time I've seen it. I've seen it a few times now and I, I really love the movie which is a nice thing to be able to say, because I can't always say that on things that I work on. But I really love this movie and and I it really does, in my opinion, reward Repeated viewings.
Speaker 1:I totally agree. I you know getting the 4k Thanks to you. I rewatched it because when I watched it, as much as I knew about the story and as much as I Found it extremely complex, I'm like what okay I'm trying to follow.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of characters, you're in different decades, there's a lot going on, which of course stimulates your mind because you're trying to stay up to speed with it. But you don't have that on the second viewing. Or if you're watching it at home, you don't have that kind of intensity because you have now seen it once or twice before. So you kind of are able to follow the story a little bit better and that repeat viewing helps with that. I I watched the behind the scenes documentary Before I did that, so but I can't say you'd already seen the movie.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, yeah, I'm saying you were the smart people yeah that's right.
Speaker 1:But I felt that there were only a few instances and I'll tell you exactly what they were. One was when I saw some of the you know, he's laying in the bed, you, and he's visualizing atoms or space or whatever he's visualizing and I remembered okay, those were practical effects done in camera. That was a minor thought when I first watched it. I assumed those had been added by CGI later on, but that's just like an interesting side note. The impact of it had nothing, no difference. But the other one that kind of did, which was the black and white.
Speaker 1:Now that I know the story, that they actually didn't have black and white footage. They had that invented, created or this film. And I was looking and I was remembering what I think Christopher said about this. Black and white footage is like it blows you away with the clarity of that black and white and it's not something you could have shot in color and turned to black and white. Like you see that black and white footage, it's just plain beautiful. I want to see a whole film shot in that footage now.
Speaker 2:Right, Really, I mean it's crazy the thing about this movie too, and again from my vantage point. There is a version of this where somebody makes this movie and it's a really great movie and they don't do those things. They turn the color film black and white. There's a degree of difficulty across the board the costumes, how much thought went into the editing and all of these things and it's not a big showbodey. The acting this isn't some giant showoff.
Speaker 2:I think Emma says in the documentary about how Killian does so much and so little and the other actors just marveling at how, like Matt said, calibrated his performances. But that's what makes it so. They make it all look so effortless, so many of these things, that what we wanted to do was show like look at what went into this, look at what the degree of difficulty, and it pays off. The reason this movie works so well is because all of these people went the extra mile and did these things. They could have taken these shortcuts and the fact that that film format didn't exist is unbelievable. It's absolutely unbelievable and across the board, the people at Kodak and the photo cam and all the different people that came together that really believed in this and the results are magical. It's remarkable, especially if you've got to see it in the theater.
Speaker 2:And I think the paper is gorgeous too, it is.
Speaker 1:Yeah, on my 4K monitor that black and white looks amazing. Of course, the other thing that the documentary and Christopher's talked a lot about is the fact that they used iMacs, not for Vistas though there are some of those in the film, of course, of New Mexico and other but for the close-up. And it hadn't dawned on me, in seeing the film in the theater, the impact that that has, that the iMacs to your point on the expressions on the faces, just the subtlety. But because it's a story about really somebody who lives in their mind, a brilliant physicist, a theoretical physicist, how do you show that it's not something that just is easy to do? So by using the actor, that partnership between director and actor, to use the actor to express, to emote.
Speaker 2:And I would annoy my family and anybody that is sadly enough, having to watch this movie with me at home, because I keep pausing and I'm like look, watch this, watch down these eye torches right there. It's unbelievable how it's capped. Just things like that, like watch Killian, just the way he closes his eyes, the timing and the way I feel like John Madden with the telestrator.
Speaker 2:I want to circle things and I'm like this is so cool and no one will sit and do that with me, which is probably for the best, but it shows, you know, and Hoytas and Chris's vision for how this movie should be shot is remarkable, I think I mean it just, it really is. It captures so much and it brings the audience in in such a really visceral way. It's a great movie.
Speaker 1:Well, going all the way back to the beginning of our conversation, we were explaining hey, this is a physical media release that really shows the case for why, when you get the right movie, the right filmmaker that people want to own and it shows that physical media is far from dead when you get the care and the right film into the product, people will want to buy it. They're going to want to step up, they're going to want to buy it in the highest quality and that's why it's done so well. And 4K, I think, is because of being filmed in IMAX and the picture looking so wonderful.
Speaker 2:They spent a lot of time. You know I wasn't involved with that, obviously, but they spent a lot of time. You know Chris cares a lot about it and they all spent a lot of time getting that home video master, as you know, good as it could be, you know sound and video and I think people kind of across. I haven't read a lot of reviews or I haven't seen a lot of stuff. I've just. You know we're super busy, but it sounds like that. You know people are responding to that too and appreciating that, the time and care that went into that.
Speaker 1:Well, jace, we've talked this movie left and right and up and down, and it's been fun, so I really appreciate you carving out the time to do that. It's a great documentary for a great movie, and the physical media release is fantastic. Obviously, you and I both will highly recommend it to people who are interested in the film, and so thanks for coming on.
Speaker 2:Thanks so much for giving me a chance to. I'm very excited about this in particular. You know like I've been, I've had a really fortunate career and worked on a lot of things that I've already, you know, geek out about, very excited about or whatever, but this is a highlight for me personally. So just you know you having me on really means a lot. We're really, we're really proud of it and just really grateful to everybody in Universal and obviously Chris and Emma and Andy Thompson and everybody that we got to be a small part of it.
Speaker 1:So, hey, that was quite the discussion with Jason. He's a great guy, tremendous professional, and he carved out some time between working on different things for the Oppenheimer film even though it's been out in the physical media release has been out. There's so much more that still is being done with that film because of the award season, so I appreciate him carving time out of his schedule for that. On a Friday night At six o'clock he's going to go back to work because he still has more things to deliver. So I hope you enjoyed the episode and, if you did, be sure and follow or subscribe at your favorite podcast provider. Until next time you've been listening to Tim Lard, stay slightly obsessed.