Christopher Nolan’s 2023 blockbuster and critical darling Oppenheimer has equally lived up to an astounding fandom and engrossing buzz. Of course, the association of Nolan’s name is more than enough, but the star-studded Oppenheimer cast also dominated the spotlight equally.
However, there is a huge difference in the salary of the stars in Nolan’s 2023 masterpiece. But above all, the director has reportedly earned far more than what his stars have secured in their paychecks.
Christopher Nolan Earned A Lot More Than Oppenheimer Stars
Christopher Nolan, the master director of our generation, cracked the code of critically stimulated commercial blockbusters. The director has made movies with the same formula and dominated the box office with impressive profits for his projects. His most recent movie on American theoretical physicist, J. Robert Oppenheimer, who is also known as the father of the atomic bomb, has raked close to $1 billion (per Box Office Mojo) at the global box office against a production budget of $100 million.
Oppenheimer stars Robert Downey Jr. who played Rear Admiral Lewis Strauss was paid $4 million for his role, Emily Blunt, and Matt Damon earned similar paychecks. The star of the show, Cillian Murphy, who played the title character in the movie, made a $10 million paycheck. However, the stars in the movie were not inherently rebellious to increase their salary as the opportunity to work with the director was worth the pay cut.
Downey Jr., in particular, has seen a massive downgrade to his salary as compared to his MCU’s Avengers: End Game earnings. The actor was paid a mammoth sum of $75 million. However, through Oppenheimer; Downey, Blunt, and Damon have profited from back-end compensation as well.
Still, Nolan made what no other cast could ever think of getting anywhere near the mountain of cash the director has received from the movie. As per a recent report by Forbes, the director made a whopping $72 million from the 2023 box office marvel.
Cillian Murphy, Christopher Nolan’s Jackpot For Oppenheimer
Nolan and Murphy have a long and fascinating relationship as the actor-director duo have collaborated on over five movies before Oppenheimer. However, Murphy had the utmost opportunity to lead a Nolan movie for the first time with the 2023 masterpiece. In this regard, it is worth acknowledging that Nolan’s cast in the movie was as perfect as it can get.
Murphy, alongside his co-stars RDJ and Blunt, secured the Oscar nods, which revealed the prowess of the stars in the movie. Murphy, in particular, has stolen the show as he almost lived Oppenheimer with his brilliant portrayal. Nolan agreed, speaking with ScreenRant, the director revealed:
“You’re looking at these people to come and bring an expert eye to the aspect of the film that they are solely responsible for. And what that means is you get incredible input from Cillian Murphy, having looked at the script, looked at the history, really thought deeply about the emotional truth of the journey of the character. And that’s true for all of the characters we’re portraying on screen. Every actor was able to come to the table with an opinion about this character. And when it’s a story that I’ve written up, when it’s characters that I’ve invented, I have to be the expert on this.”
In its essence, casting Murphy in the movie can be dubbed as the biggest jackpot for Nolan as he could unveil what he envisioned while writing the script. Oppenheimer was not just a box-office giant. The movie has earned several accolades, including leading the 96th Academy Awards with 13 Oscar nods.
Oppenheimer is streaming on Peacock.
