‘Oppenheimer’ production designers Ruth De Jong and Claire Kaufman on how Christopher Nolan ‘is on this other stratosphere’ [Exclusive Video Interview]
It still hasn’t settled in for “Oppenheimer’s” production designer Ruth De Jong and set decorator Claire Kaufman that they are both nominated in the Best Production Design category at the 2024 Academy Awards. “I think it’s still surreal,” De Jong tells me, to which Kaufman chimes in, “There’s still some days I can hardly believe it.” In all, “Oppenheimer” is nominated for 13 Oscars, more than any other film this year. Watch our exclusive video interview above.
Universal Pictures’ film stars Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer, aka the father of the atomic bomb. The period piece made close to $1 billion worldwide, cementing its status as one of the most lucrative biopics in box office history. Notably, neither De Jong nor Kaufman had worked with Christopher Nolan, the screenwriter/director/producer, before signing on to this monumental project.
“He’s such an amazing filmmaker,” Kaufman divulges. “It was such an honor to be a part of this film. What I love about Chris and Emma [Thomas], even through the beginning of this awards season, is they’ve been so gracious about their crew, and they are so respectful and really honor their crew. It is a real family. Everyone really brings their A-game when you’re on a Chris Nolan film, there is no doubt about that.” The set decorator chuckles, “And he loves Earl Grey tea.”
De Jong declares, “Chris Nolan is on this other stratosphere” because of the “monumental movies that he makes.” The production designer adds, “I think what floored me was his accessibility, and how personal his films are to him and his intimate collaborations. We spent about eight weeks together before anybody started, just he and I, and I’d never in the history of my career had a one-on-one with a director for eight straight weeks to develop the entire look and feel and design conceptually.”
Creating the atomic bomb itself proved to be a collaboration between many different departments behind the scenes. “What I was able to bring to the table for that was all of the panels and the pieces that went into making it,” Kaufman explains. And De Jong went into the process realizing, “This bomb is a character in and of itself throughout the film,” so her team uncovered “declassified information on the exact specs and sizing and detail and the inner world and the lenses.”
Also in our exclusive video interview, De Jong and Kaufman speak in depth about creating Los Alamos, New Mexico from scratch, including how Nolan didn’t want any set extensions or CGI utilized in the town. The artisans reveal how they were able to make the courtroom settings and hearing rooms appear dynamic on camera, and they describe how they transformed the “Veep” Oval Office into their own set for “Oppenheimer.”
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