Why Christopher Nolan Movies Don’t Have Director’s Cuts Explained By Oppenheimer’s Cillian Murphy

With his newest movie longest one yet, Oppenheimer star Cillian Murphy opens up about why Christopher Nolan movies don’t have director’s cuts. Murphy has reunited with Nolan for the sixth time on the historical biographical thriller, starring as J. Robert Oppenheimer with the movie chronicling nearly 40 years of his life, namely his time as the director of the Manhattan Project in World War II. With a star-studded ensemble that also includes Emily Blunt, Matt Damon and Florence Pugh, among others, Oppenheimer has set a new Nolan record as it clocks in at three hours long, surpassing Interstellar‘s two hours and 49 minute runtime.

While speaking with Collider ahead of the movie’s release, Oppenheimer‘s Cillian Murphy reflected on his frequent collaborations with writer/director Christopher Nolan. When asked about any cut material from the historical biographical thriller, Murphy debunked any such extra material, and explained why there’s yet to be a director’s cut for a Nolan movie. See what Murphy shared below:

There’s no deleted scenes in Chris Nolan movies. That’s why there are no DVD extras on his movies because the script is the movie. He knows exactly what’s going to end up– he’s not fiddling around with it trying to change the story. That is the movie.

Editor’s Note: This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, and the movie covered here would not exist without the labor of the writers and actors in both unions.

Why It’s Best Nolan Doesn’t Have Director’s Cuts

While deleted scenes are fairly typical for any kind of release, it is interesting that Nolan remains one of the few directors to not have excised material appear as special features on any of his home releases. Having worked on everything from superhero projects as seen with the Dark Knight trilogy to such elevated sci-fi material as Inception, the five-time Oscar nominee has never been shy of flexing his creative muscles in a variety of fields, while still retaining his unique vision.

Though Nolan is sure to have gone through multiple drafts of a project before filming, him being allotted the opportunity to put his full creative vision on the screen goes to show how trusted the director is with his studio partners. In a time in which such studios as Warner Bros., of which he called his home for nearly 20 years, are under fire for their creative interference even on director’s cuts, as seen with Zack Snyder’s Justice League, it’s further reassuring that Nolan has not had to leave any of his vision on the cutting room floor.

Considering the majority of Nolan’s recent movies have clocked in at nearly three hours long, it also makes sense why projects like Oppenheimer don’t get director’s cuts upon arriving on shelves and digital platforms. Though lengthy runtimes have become a point of division among audiences looking to return to shorter movies, it’s unclear if Nolan will remain impervious to this desire in the near future, though with Oppenheimer being hailed as a return to form following Tenet‘s underperformance, it seems likely audiences will be more forgiving of the filmmaker.

Source: Collider