Oppenheimer branded ‘most important film of this century’ by Taxi Driver’s Paul Schrader

‘I’m not a Nolan groupie but this one blows the door off the hinges,’ said the Oscar-nominated filmmaker

Writer and filmmaker Paul Schrader has described Oppenheimer as the “best” and “most important film of this century”.

Directed by Christopher Nolan, the film follows the life of theoretical physicist J Robert Oppenheimer, who spearheaded the development of the first nuclear bomb.

Schrader, 76, is best known as the writer of Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and for directing films such as First Reformed (2017) and The Card Counter (2021). He attended the New York premiere of Oppenheimer this week, sharing his thoughts on the film in a Facebook post afterwards.

“OPPENHEIMER. The best, most important film of this century,” Schrader wrote. “If you see one film in cinemas this year it should be Oppenheimer.

“I’m not a Nolan groupie but this one blows the door off the hinges.”

The film features Cillian Murphy (Peaky Blinders) as Oppenheimer himself, while a star-studded supporting cast includes Robert Downey Jr, Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, Emily Blunt, Casey Affleck, Rami Malek, Benny Safdie, Josh Hartnett, Matthew Modine, Alden Ehrenreich, Jason Clarke, and Gary Oldman.

In a recent roundtable interview with his Oppenheimer castmates, Damon revealed that he had intended to take a break from acting before Nolan got in contact about the project.

“This is going to sound made up, but it’s actually true,” he said. “I had – not to get too personal – negotiated extensively with my wife that I was taking time off. I had been in Interstellar, and then Chris put me on ice for a couple of movies, so I wasn’t in the rotation.”

Matt Damon in the trailer for ‘Oppenheimer' (Universal Pictures)

Damon previously worked with Nolan in the 2014 sci-fi film Interstellar, though did not feature in his subsequent projects Dunkirk (2017) and Tenet (2020).

“But I actually negotiated in couples therapy ­– this is a true story – the one caveat to my taking time off was if Chris Nolan called,” he explained.

“This is without knowing whether or not he was working on anything, because he never tells you. He just calls you out of the blue. And so, it was a moment in my household.”

Murphy has also worked with Nolan previously, on films such as Batman Begins, Inception and Dunkirk.

In an interview with The Independent ahead of Oppenheimer’s release, Murphy also responded to filmmaker Danny Boyle’s recent claim that a second sequel to 2002 horror hit 28 Days Later could be in the works.

Oppenheimer is out in cinemas on 21 July.