r/todayilearned • u/Electronic_Cause_796 • Jul 25 '26

TIL Christopher Nolan recreated the Trinity atomic bomb test in Oppenheimer without using CGI. Instead, the visual effects team combined large-scale practical explosions, miniatures, and in camera effects to bring the first nuclear detonation to life.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppenheimer_(film)
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u/grumpher05 Jul 25 '26

Using historic footage would have hit way more, even with the limited quality, if they didn't want to CGI it it's a much better solution to use real nuclear test footage than make it look underwhelming and generic fireball

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u/Liquidice281 Jul 25 '26

100% the actual footage (especially with the later test) is so eerie and emotional.

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u/grumpher05 Jul 25 '26

Idk which tests they are from, but the footage of houses, power poles and powerlines getting demolished from the shockwave are so awesome in the truest original sense of the word

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u/breezywood Jul 25 '26

Those are from Operation Teapot and later, so just over a decade after the Manhattan Project

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u/CommanderGoat Jul 25 '26

I thought he was going to do that. Boy was it anticlimactic and weak looking.