Actual Military Explosions Kept Oppenheimer From Filming At The Real Atomic Bomb Site
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Never one to skirt the truth, visionary director Christopher Nolan has always paid close attention to getting the real story down on 70mm film, even down to the smallest detail. "The Dark Knight" was so grounded in reality that Batman seemed more like an actual historical figure than a traumatized superhero. With "Oppenheimer," Nolan and his team had one of the most exhaustive biographies ever written at their disposal, "American Prometheus," written by authors Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. That deep dive into the definitive account of the creation of the atomic bomb and its aftermath even led to more discoveries that the historians missed the first time around.
In the ongoing effort during production to make "Oppenheimer" as accurate as possible, Nolan originally wanted to film the show-stopping spectacle of the atomic bomb detonation at the same location as the actual Trinity test site. In 1945, the 100-mile span of desert in Southern New Mexico was named Jornada del Muerto ("Route of the Dead Man") by Spanish conquistadors who crossed the area on foot during the 16th century with no water access of any kind. Oppenheimer later renamed the site with the official code name, Trinity, based on a sonnet by 17th century poet John Donne. That change effectively christened the land and removed some of the stigma from the much more foreboding Spanish name.
Today, the historic site is nestled right near the White Sands Missile Range. Driving past, seeing the no trespassing signs can fill travelers with a sense of dread and a feeling of awe, simultaneously. When it came time for Nolan and his team of actors, artists, and crew to recreate the blast, they were unable to shoot at the original location due to a very dangerous scheduling conflict with the production and the U.S. military's plans to detonate a few bombs of their own.
'Wouldn't it be great if we could just shoot here?'
In the newly published book "Unleashing Oppenheimer: Inside Christopher Nolan's Explosive Atomic-Age Thriller," author Jada Yuan offers some new insights about the making of "Oppenheimer" and why the decision was made to abandon plans to film at the actual Trinity site just outside of Alamogordo, New Mexico. The area is only open to the public two days and is now considered part of the impact zone for missiles being fired from the northern end of White Sands. That, of course, would normally give one pause, but Nolan wanted to visit anyway. Production Designer Ruth De Jong gave an account of visiting the site, explaining:
"That was wild, being out at Trinity. Chris and I were taken directly to the place where the bomb was dropped. We walked in and picked up trinitite. I was like, 'How much radiation am I being exposed to?' Our guide was like, 'You get more radiation flying in an airplane back and forth to L.A. than you do standing here.'"
That may be true today, but the effects of the radiation from the initial Trinity test effected and threatened the health of thousands of New Mexico residents who were unaware that such a test was even being conducted in 1945. The trinitite that De Jong mentions was likely formed from the combination of the bomb's fireball with pebbles of sand that rained down all over the surrounding area. Tourists still search for the peculiar geographical phenomenon today.
Unit Production Designer, Thomas Hayslip, also remembered how taken Nolan was with the original location, remembering:
"Chris was like, 'Hey, wouldn't it be great if we could just shoot here?' And then when we actually started to figure out the schedule, we realized that we couldn't shoot there because they were dropping bombs during the time we needed to prep and shoot."
Where was the actual filming location?
A great deal of the exteriors of "Oppenheimer" were filmed at Ghost Ranch, a haunting retreat in New Mexico where artist Georgia O'Keefe called home during the late stages of her painting career. O'Keefe would later discover after the first explosion detonated that her neighbors were none other than Oppenheimer, Niels Bohr, and Enrico Fermi, the architect of the atomic bomb.
Unable to film at the real Trinity test site, Hayslip searched tirelessly to find a nearby piece of land where a 100-foot steel tower could be built, where the bomb would drop from, and somewhere that could accommodate building a military base camp from the ground up. Viewing stations where the scientists could watch their awesome creation from a safe distance would also have to be constructed. Additionally, they had to make sure that there would be enough space to set off a number of large explosions without causing concern.
Finally, Hayslip and his scouting team came across 70 acres of private land at El Paisano Ranch, about 10 miles from a town called Belen, New Mexico. After acquiescing to the demands of the owner — a cattle rancher concerned about stressing out his herd during calving season — Hayslip and Nolan had found their Trinity.
Oppenheimer dreamed that the use of the atomic bomb would end all war. He hoped that the destruction would become a deterrent for humanity's future. The irony that the original Trinity test site is still being used today for missile testing by the U.S. military should not go unnoticed.