Leave it to Christopher Nolan to upstage the Barbie party.
The blockbuster director’s thriller Oppenheimer is snapping frantically at her pink heels to become the movie of the year thanks to a star cast, extraordinary hype and a gripping plot.
Peaky Blinders star Cillian Murphy bites into the biggest role of his career and his performance is already earning him cult status with fans even before it hits screens.
While director Greta Gerwig has bagged two of Hollywood’s biggest darlings in Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling to play Barbie and Ken, Nolan has rounded up an Oscars audience worth of stars to support Murphy, who plays theoretical physicist J Robert Oppenheimer developing the first nuclear weapons.
Joining him will be Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr, Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett, Casey Affleck, Rami Malek, Gary Oldman and Kenneth Branagh.
Coincidentally, both films cost the same to make — $150 million.
Fans have been so invested, they made a Barbie x Oppenheimer T-shirt that went viral. Robbie has signed her side of the tee, waiting for Murphy to call a truce and sign his side.
So will Nolan nuke Barbie at the box office, or will the blonde ambition of Margot Robbie prevail?
Either way, the stars of each movie have already called a truce as they hit cinemas today.
Here’s what they had to say about each other:
Greta Gerwig – “double up at the cinema”
Gerwig says of the movie that could stop Barbie claiming the No.1 spot: “It’s all love — double up, double up twice. I think you’ve got to see what the experience is, Barbie then Oppenheimer, Oppenheimer then Barbie. I think you’ve got to take all of the journeys.”
Margot Robbie – keep the enemy close
After signing the Barbie x Oppenheimer T-shirt, Robbie took an extra-heeled step to throw some love Nolan’s way by posing in front of an Oppenheimer movie poster.
Issa Rae – “people are gonna die”
Robbie’s co-star Issa Rae, who plays President Barbie in Gerwig’s flick, said: “I love that there’s solidarity though, where people tried to pit us against one another but now it’s turned into like a double-feature situation. Obviously you should see Oppenheimer first and then cleanse your palate with Barbie.”
“Oppenheimer is about an atomic bomb, people are gonna die. I want to end my weekend, I want to have mimosas and drinks and cocktails after Barbie, I don’t want to, like, sulk. That’s just my plan. As long as you’re seeing Barbie, I don’t care.”
Cillian Murphy — “it’s going to knock people out”
Cillian Murphy hasn’t said if he will be getting his Barbie fix but is talking a big game when it comes to how Oppenheimer’s already devoted fans will react.
“I don’t like watching myself – it’s like, ‘Oh, f***ing hell’ — but it’s an extraordinary piece of work,” he said.
“Very provocative and powerful. It feels sometimes like a biopic, sometimes like a thriller, sometimes like a horror. It’s going to knock people out. What Christopher Nolan does with film, it f***s you up a little bit.”
Matt Damon — daughters will be the judges
Co-star Matt Damon says he is relaxed about the prospect of being taken out by a plastic doll.
“I haven’t paid any attention to that,” the dad of four girls said of the film warfare with Gerwig.
People are allowed to go see two movies in a weekend. Oppenheimer is one of them!”
And he doesn’t know which flick his girls will prefer. “I’ll have to ask them that,” he said. “If that’s the case, they’ll see two movies that weekend!”
Florence Pugh — converted Barbiecore fan
As for Pugh, she started wearing Barbiecore fashion last year ahead of the battle.
She chose to wear a Barbie pink see-through tulle dress to Valentino’s fashion show in the lead-up — sans underwear to sex things up.
Pugh said on the reaction to her hot-pink Barbie style: “Listen, I knew when I wore that incredible Valentino dress that there was no way there wouldn’t be a commentary on it. Whether it be negative or positive, we all knew what we were doing.”
Let the best bomb or bombshell win!