Even though Christopher Nolan has given audiences and cinema several path-breaking films, die-hard fans have lamented the loss of a singular project that did not come to fruition. Yes, I’m talking about the Howard Huges biopic.
The legend goes as far back as his Memento days. Nolan had scripted a biopic on the eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes, with Jim Carrey slated to star. He then dropped plans of filming it after Martin Scorsese’s version The Aviator hit the big screen first and proved to be a resounding success, becoming the first Hughes biopic to grace the big screen. Ever since, that script has probably been sitting under a shelf somewhere gathering dust. Nolan himself has been ambivalent about revisiting the project on occassion. As it turns out though, it seems to have come in handy for Nolan’s latest venture and helped him tackle the complicated nature of his most recent protagonist.
In an interview with Total Film, Nolan revealed how the unmade Howard Hughes biopic helped pave the way for Oppenheimer. Nolan was able to borrow some elements narratively and thematically from the Hughes script, chief amongst which was presenting viewers with a biopic that lets audiences live through the experience of a person’s life.
When I wrote my Howard Hughes script, it was the first time I’d taken on a real-life figure, and tried working from a book, and tried to find a structural approach and a cinematic approach that would give you the experience of this guy’s life. I was very happy with that script. Obviously I did not get to test the theories because I didn’t get to make the film. But in my mind, I go, ‘OK, I do know how to do this’.
Nolan argued though that it may have been easier in some ways, because Oppenheimer as a historical figure fully deserved to have a movie be made about him. The same probably can’t be said about Hughes and doing a film about him would have certainly evoked some complicated feelings, thanks to the kind of person Hughes was. And as he’s done throughout other interviews, he continues emphasizing on the significance of Oppenheimer’s contribution to mankind and the far-reaching effects it continues to have. That impact makes the writing process liberating according to Nolan, seeing as he’s able to raise the stakes to the nth degree.
In some ways, Oppenheimer was easier because nobody deserves this, probably, more than this individual. This is the guy who has defined our future for us – literally. This is a guy who needs to have a film made about him. From certain views, you’re dealing with the most important shift in life on Earth, for humankind. That’s very freeing in the writing sense.
Nolan was also open about the contribution of Oppenheimer‘s source material, prasing the comprehensive nature of the book. It served as a bible that provided him with convenient access to all the information about the physicist, even though he laments that a lot of it probably won’t make it to the movie.
I also had a terrific book to work with. American Prometheus, which Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin wrote. It’s so comprehensive. You can’t fit it all in the film, but knowing that you have all the information at your fingertips… It’s very liberating.
To conclude, Nolan brought the conversation full circle and emphasized that writing the Howard Hughes biopic provided him with the confidence necessary to take on this movie.
But I think having written the Howard Hughes script was very important to having the confidence to take this on, particularly structurally, and just knowing that if I could find the approach, then I would be able to just dive into the guy’s life.
The Howard Hughes biopic occupies a legendary status in Nolan fandom. Us fans still believe that it’s a movie that deserves to be made. Some still believe that Nolan will return to it one day, and it will turn out to be the cinematic achievement of Nolan’s career, a pinnacle that hands him his first coveted Oscar. Seeing the pre-release buzz for Oppenheimer though, some fans have been swayed into believing that this could turn out to be just the story that earns Nolan the well-deserved, but well-delayed Academy Award. We’ll just have to wait and see for now.
Oppenheimer hits theaters on July 21, 2023. Tickets for the movie are now on sale.
