Oppenheimer's Costume Designer Ellen Mirojnick Talks Creating a Different Kind of Period Film

Christopher Nolan's highly anticipated new film, "Oppenheimer," is a different kind of period drama, one that focuses more on the story being told in a first-person narrative rather than distinct time periods.

The costume designer Ellen Mirojnick, who worked on period projects such as "Bridgerton" and "The Greatest Showman", was responsible for creating costumes for the casting of film stars, which includes Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr. T Damon, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh and others.

"Oppenheimer," which debuts in theaters on Friday, tells the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the American physicist who was the director of the Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II - who undertook the Manhattan Project - and is known as the "father of the atomic bomb." The film follows Oppenheimer from the early 1920s through the 1960s and is told primarily from the character's perspective.

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Although the film spans decades, "Oppenheimer's" costumes remain largely consistent throughout to stay focused on its first-person narrative.

"It was a very different approach," Mirojnick said. "It wasn't about [taking creative liberties]. It was about telling a cinematic story and creating a first-person point of view, which is a very different approach than doing a period piece with historical accuracy down to the finest detail. It's a bit more of a freer approach. It was very important to be able to move through history and understand the passage of time without clinging to a very specific type of period detail, which you often do when making costumes. for period films.

Mirojnick explained that the costumes evolve in subtle ways throughout the film, especially for the men, to help show the passage of time without taking the viewer out of the immersive experience. She said viewers can see the changing weather through design elements like the color palette, fabrics and textures.

The film is told primarily from Oppenheimer's perspective - with these scenes shot in color - but other parts are told from the perspective of Lewis Strauss, the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission and Oppenheimer's rival, played by Downey Jr. These scenes are depicted in black and white.

Mirojnick scoured the black and white scenes focusing on textures and colors, either using fabrics that popped on screen or more subtle styles to make silhouettes stand out.

For Oppenheimer's character, Mirojnick largely stuck to a blue color palette and the same silhouette that has subtly evolved over time. She explained that the character underwent a major change to his costumes when he took on his role at Los Alamos, a change meant to reflect the seriousness of the position.

An image from the film "Oppenheimer".