Did OPPENHEIMER Director Christopher Nolan Fail To Properly Credit The Movie's VFX Artists?

Did OPPENHEIMER Director Christopher Nolan Fail To Properly Credit The Movie's VFX Artists?

Filmmaker Christopher Nolan talked a lot about Oppenheimer relying primarily on practical effects, but it's believed the many VFX artists who worked on his historical epic failed to receive proper credit.

By JoshWilding - Jul 26, 2023 11:07 AM EST
Filed Under: Action
Source: Cartoon Brew (via ActioNewz.com)

At this point, we're all aware that filmmaker Christopher Nolan favours practical effects over those created on a computer. In recent weeks, much has been said about Oppenheimer not containing any CGI shots, leading to the belief this movie contains no VFX whatsoever.

However, that's something Cartoon Brew (via ActioNewz.com) has questioned in a piece exploring how the movie must have contained at least some VFX. Unfortunately, in order to not draw attention to that, it seems the many artists who worked on the historical epic have not been properly credited. 

As the site explains, it's common for movies like this one to feature "invisible VFX" used to help make a period drama appear authentic. So, while there are no action scenes and the explosions may be real, VFX was likely utilised to remove anything that was inaccurate for its time setting. 

If you stick around to watch Oppenheimer's credits (though we'd hope you're not waiting for some kind of sequel tease), you might notice that a mere 24 VFX artists are named. 

DNEG's website, however, confirms more than 160 members of their team contributed to Nolan's latest movie. Many of them work in the company's Mumbai office.

This may be an oversight and Oppenheimer isn't the first huge release to overlook key members of the crew in this way. However, it's hard to imagine naming these artists would have added more than a few seconds to a movie which already clocks in at three hours. 

Then again, a list that long would somewhat undermine the argument this movie primarily used practical effects. 

This ultimately feels like another sign of disrespect to those VFX artists and, given how poorly members of that industry are already treated, it's a shame that they've been overlooked in this manner. Again, it could easily be a mistake or because they didn't do enough work to justify a credit, though that seems doubtful. 

Oppenheimer is now playing in theaters. 

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TheNewYorker
TheNewYorker - 7/26/2023, 11:09 AM
Who cares..
Spidey91
Spidey91 - 7/26/2023, 12:32 PM
@TheNewYorker - considering there's a bunch of people on strike right now because they're not getting what they're due, we should care.
bobevanz
bobevanz - 7/26/2023, 12:52 PM
@TheNewYorker - "However, that's something Cartoon Brew (via ActioNewz.com) has questioned"
bobevanz
bobevanz - 7/26/2023, 12:56 PM
@bobevanz - sometimes it makes me go cross eyed
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 7/26/2023, 11:09 AM
That’s unfortunate if true , especially with the news of how VFX artists are being treated by studios that it seems like a terrible oversight.

hopefully they can atleast rectify that soon and give those artists the credit they deserve.

Anyway , need to give it a rewatch eventually but liked the movie on first viewing.

GhostDog
GhostDog - 7/26/2023, 11:10 AM
Oppenheimer suiting up with his hat, blazer, and pipe
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 7/26/2023, 11:15 AM
@GhostDog - I noticed that haha

Also , that certain name drop towards the end felt like sequel tease haha.
GhostDog
GhostDog - 7/26/2023, 11:23 AM
@TheVisionary25 - a dude clapped and yelled "yea!" in my theater at the name drop lol
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 7/26/2023, 11:25 AM
@GhostDog - lol

He must really like his politics
Se4M4NSt4ine
Se4M4NSt4ine - 7/26/2023, 6:01 PM
@TheVisionary25 - what name drop? I must’ve missed it!
CoHost
CoHost - 7/26/2023, 11:17 AM
Film was pretty awful. I'd give it a 4/10. Can't say too much without spoilers but Nolan completely got the history wrong despite adapting a book that have more than enough info.
AllsGood
AllsGood - 7/26/2023, 11:37 AM
@CoHost - I haven't seen Oppenheimer but have friends said they walked out. Oppenheimer debuts with $93.7M overseas and $174.2M globally. I'm curious what the Second Week drop will be.
WarAdmiral51
WarAdmiral51 - 7/26/2023, 11:21 AM
I feel empathy for VFX artists.

The greatest VFX works are often the ones where the audience doesn't know whether it's real or fake. Audiences only pay attention to the upfront effects, but little do they know the car in the background is fake. Or that city block that the protagonist just walked past. A helicopter landing that looks practical, but is really a VFX shot.

Imagine doing an awesome job at work, and no one ever notices it because they're not supposed to notice it.
santoanderson
santoanderson - 7/26/2023, 11:22 AM
I’m assuming Nolan, in this case, is defining “CGI” as anything created entirely from scratch in a computer. So while the movie definitely employed VFX artists to color-grade, do sky replacements, and tweak live-action photography (like 99% of movies do nowadays), they weren’t dynamically-simulating mushroom clouds in Houdini, or building a fully 3D set of Los Alamos in Maya for digital set extensions.

It’s all semantics. With that said, I wish Nolan would cool it a bit on the “all CG bad” rhetoric he throws around. Because he uses A LOT of CG artists to make his movies. Maybe not as many as a Marvel movie, but still a lot.
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 7/26/2023, 11:24 AM
Stupid Josh. It is not Nolan's job to check the credits
MaxPaint
MaxPaint - 7/26/2023, 11:39 AM
@vectorsigma - This is obviously a biased article, anyone with more than 2 neurons would know it's not up to the director to do the credits. We 're supouse to belive that Nolan expent hours looking at what names are going to be in the credits? LMFAO.

But it just shows the true colors of this "editor". The desperation is real.

And also the credits are supprvised by the producers and the studio mostly since they're ones who hire the vfx departments, and it's up to them to decide the credits list based on information provided by the same vfx departments that can say ""these are the guys that contributed to the effects in X scenes".

Nolan is a great director but like all others, there's a whole production going on with several task that we never could know or heard of.
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 7/26/2023, 12:28 PM
@MaxPaint - all for the clicks ofc
Keatonfan8992
Keatonfan8992 - 7/26/2023, 1:14 PM
@MaxPaint - If nothing else, at least the headline wasn’t:

Did Nolan Fail (Like The Flash Failed at the Box Office) To Give Credit to VFX Supervisors.
MaxPaint
MaxPaint - 7/26/2023, 1:45 PM
@Keatonfan8992 - Don't give him ideas.
TyrantBossMedia
TyrantBossMedia - 7/26/2023, 11:24 AM
WGAF

Fogs
Fogs - 7/26/2023, 11:25 AM
Oppenheimer. Ah, from that famous comic book. Sure.
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