Christopher Nolan Says Oppenheimer Has The Same “Complicated” Ending of Inception

Christopher Nolan’s movies have frequently been known for twisting the world to their purpose, and creating some mind-boggling plots in the process. You would think that telling the story of American scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer, the godfather of the atomic bomb, would be one that was simple, straightforward and couldn’t be considered one of Nolan’s most complex movies to work out. The director seems to think otherwise.

Nolan recently spoke to WIRED about his upcoming summer movie, which abandons the blockbuster premise of the likes of The Dark Knight and Inception, to tell how Oppenheimer came to create one of the most deadly devices ever developed by humans. However, when it comes to ending of the movie, Nolan doesn’t believe it is that much different from the ending of his dream-reality movie Inception in one particular way. He said:

“I mean, the end of Inception, it’s exactly that. There is a nihilistic view of that ending, right? But also, he’s moved on and is with his kids. The ambiguity is not an emotional ambiguity. It’s an intellectual one for the audience. It’s funny, I think there is an interesting relationship between the endings of Inception and Oppenheimer to be explored. Oppenheimer’s got a complicated ending. Complicated feelings.”

Related: Christopher Nolan Explains How AI Could Actually Improve Filmmaking

Oppenheimer is About the Human Need to Push Their Boundaries.

While on the surface, Inception and Oppenheimer seem to be in no way related, they have a similar theme through their exploration of how humans are willing to push themselves into realms of the unknown that can lead to something deadly and destructive. While Inception is mostly set in a subconscious world, albeit with seeming real world consequences and outcome, Oppenheimer is fully grounded in the world of scientific discovered and exploration. That means that effects of the events that play out on screen can be felt by audiences who are fully aware that unlike many more fantastical movies, this could and has already happened.

The decisions made by Oppenheimer, a man who wanted to save the world but could have ended up obliterating it, give the film a strong emotional core, and that is exactly where Nolan expects the film to get its hook from. Looking into the thoughts of someone who came to realize that their ideas of what could bring peace to the world was in fact its biggest threat sets up enough internal conflict to make audiences feel the way Oppenheimer himself did.

Nolan himself has suggested that in many ways Oppenheimer is as much a horror movie as it is a drama. The biographical nature of the story certainly seems to be underpinned with a sense of dread and tension that has left screening audiences shaken and, according to the director, “absolutely devastated.” General audiences will get the chance to make up their minds about Oppenheimer when the movie opens in theaters on July 21.