Oppenheimer Star Likens Christopher Nolan to Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada

Oppenheimer's Emily Blunt recalls a moment on set when writer-director Christopher Nolan reminded her of Meryl Streep's Miranda Priestly.

Oppenheimer star Emily Blunt recently likened the historical thriller's writer-director, Christopher Nolan, to Meryl Streep's character, Miranda Priestly, in the 2006 comedy-drama The Devil Wears Prada.

Blunt recalled a moment on Oppenheimer's set when Nolan reminded her of Streep's infamous fashion magazine editor-in-chief in an interview with The Washington Post. "It was like a scene from The Devil Wears Prada," she said. "Chris just looks down at your shoes, and it's like Meryl Streep is looking at your horrible fashion choice. I just thought, 'I'll never be seen dead in Ugg boots around him again.'" Blunt added that she poked fun at Nolan over the incident when principal photography wrapped by gifting him "the ugliest Ugg slippers [she] could find."

Blunt also made it clear that Nolan's distaste for her choice of footwear wasn't motivated by snobbery, but rather his insistence on maintaining a period-accurate vibe while shooting. The acclaimed actor said that she "loved" working with Nolan -- a sentiment shared by many of her co-stars. This includes Dylan Arnold, who praised Nolan for encouraging him to develop his own approach to the Frank Oppenheimer role. "He definitely expects the best from people, but he trusts them when they come on set... he was willing to let me explore and let me bring myself to it. And if he saw something that needed to be adjusted, he would let you know," Arnold explained.

Oppenheimer Star on Filming in the IMAX Format

In the same interview, Arnold also touched on the challenges of filming in the IMAX format during the Oppenheimer shoot. Notably, the star revealed that the IMAX cameras were so loud that Nolan and cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema recorded separate, sound-only versions of the movie's IMAX scenes to capture the cast's dialogue. "[T]hey would say, 'Okay, now we're gonna do a sound take,'" Arnold said. "And so you'll do the scene again without the camera rolling to just get the audio." Arnold went on to say that he initially thought these takes were back-ups, before realizing they would often be used as the final audio.

Oppenheimer's sound-only takes weren't the only unconventional aspect of the production, either. Leading man Cillian Murphy recently revealed that Nolan wrote many scenes in the historical thriller's screenplay from the first-person perspective, which "blew [his] mind." Murphy also said that despite (or even because) of this unorthodox approach, Oppenheimer's script is one of the best he's ever read.