Christopher Nolan is now promoting Oppenheimer on TikTok

Chris Tilly
Christopher Nolan directing.

Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan has been promoting his new movie Oppenheimer on TikTok, while at the same time celebrating the IMAX format.

While Christopher Nolan is one of the most influential filmmakers of his generation, you probably don’t think of him as a social influencer.

But that changed today when the director of The Dark Knight, Inception, and Interstellar took to TikTok to promote new movie Oppenheimer, as well as two of his favorite subjects – the importance of projected film and the wonders of IMAX.

Oppenheimer stars Cillian Murphy as scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer, and charts his involvement in the birth of the atomic bomb. The movie drops on July 21, 2023, and in advance of its release, Nolan has participated in a promotional TikTok video.

Christopher Nolan is now promoting Oppenheimer on TikTok

The video – which can be viewed below – starts with the writer-director stating to camera: “Hello, I’m Christopher Nolan.” He then talks a TikTok-er called ‘guywithamoviecamera’ through his thoughts on film and projection.

While holding up different celluloid formats on which film is shot, Nolan explains: “That’s conventional 35mm film. We shoot [Oppenheimer] on 70mm. The other format we use is 70mm IMAX. It’s the highest quality imaging format ever devised. It gives you an incredible sense of immersion in the image.”

Nolan then invites his guest up to the projection booth, where he discusses the importance of IMAX exhibition by explaining: “It fills your peripheral vision. It immerses you in the image. The clarity. The crispness. It is the gold standard. It is the closest to reproducing the world the way that your eye sees it.”

They then watch scenes from the new film in a cinema, with Nolan revealing: “It’s an IMAX 70mm film projector in the booth, using the full IMAX screen… enjoy!”

Finally, Nolan reads these numbers off a standee that’s counting down until Oppenheimer’s release: “1 month, 15 days, 17 hours, 3 minutes, and 24 seconds, which makes me a little nervous. But it’s nice to be reminded of how much we’ve got to do in the time we have.”

The 82-second video is a charming peak behind-the-scenes with the secretive filmmaker, and a useful guide for how you should watch his new movie.

Oppenheimer releases worldwide on July 21, the same day as Barbie. That date that has apparently annoyed Tom Cruise, as the period piece will be elbowing his own Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 out of IMAX screens.

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About The Author

Chris Tilly is the TV and Movies Editor at Dexerto. He has a BA in English Literature, an MA in Newspaper Journalism, and over the last 20 years, he's worked for the likes of Time Out, IGN, and Fandom. Chris loves Star Wars, Marvel, DC, sci-fi, and especially horror, while he knows maybe too much about Alan Partridge. You can email him here: chris.tilly@dexerto.com.