By Donald Gilpin

The first indication for some residents of the western part of town in the area around the Institute for Advanced Study was a letter from the assistant location manager for Gadget Films LLC. 

She wrote to inform them that a feature film — no details provided — “plans to film in your neighborhood this April” and that most of the filming would take place at IAS and on Olden Lane between Newlin and Battle Road. 

“As always,” the letter read, “we will do our utmost to be respectful to the surrounding community and thank you in advance for having us in your neighborhood.” There was also a number and email address listed in case there were any questions.

Indications that this might be more than a minor film arose about two weeks ago as black and yellow signs went up in the IAS area with arrows indicating the direction for “crew parking” and for “catering.”  And then vintage 1940s cars were spotted parked outside of the main buildings on the IAS campus.

On Monday, April 11, the movie crews, actors — including Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, and other celebrities — and five-time Oscar-nominated director and screenwriter Christopher Nolan arrived to shoot scenes for their upcoming movie Oppenheimer. 

The film is based on the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, theoretical physicist and IAS director from 1947 to 1966. He is among those credited as creator of the atomic bomb and a controversial leader in the World War II Manhattan Project that developed the first nuclear weapons.

Filming at IAS took place on April 11, 12 and 13, mainly at majestic Fuld Hall and at the Olden Farm, the IAS director’s residence nearby on Olden Lane.  Olden Farm, where Oppenheimer lived while serving as the third director of IAS, is now home to David Nirenberg, the recently appointed 10th director of IAS.    

After three days of filming at IAS, the filmmakers — cast and crew of between 100 and 150 — proceeded to Princeton University on Thursday, April 14 for a filming session in the area of East Pyne Hall and in the University Chapel. The spaces at the University were more limited and the onlookers were far more numerous. 

Actors, crew, and hosting officials at IAS and Princeton University were not permitted to say much about the movie and its celebrity actors and director.

IAS Communications and Public Relations Manager Lee Sandberg noted that operations at IAS proceeded more or less normally during the shooting. “The buildings weren’t disturbed,” he said. “There were folks peering out of the windows, but it was mostly seamless having the crew on campus. We have a lot of space and they were restricted to certain areas.”

The scene at East Pyne on the University campus on Thursday was described as “campus chaos” by The Daily Princetonian, as hundreds of students and others crowded around the East Pyne courtyard, hoping to see familiar celebrities.

Princeton Director of Media Relations Michael Hotchkiss suggested that “chaos” may be an exaggeration and that any disruption was probably minor. “The University reviews requests to undertake film projects on campus on a case-by-case basis,” he wrote in an email. “All filming is carefully planned with a focus on safety and minimizing any disruption to the University community.”

The script for the movie, written by Nolan, is based on American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, a 2006 Pulitzer Prize-winning biography written by Kai Bird and the late Martin J. Sherwin. Nolan’s films — including The Dark Knight Batman trilogy, Inception, and Interstellar — have grossed more than $5 billion and won 11 Academy Awards over the past two decades.

Scheduled to be released by Universal Pictures in July 2023, Oppenheimer started filming in February and early March of this year in Abiquiu and Los Alamos, N.M. Although the casting process was reportedly extremely secretive, Murphy has apparently been cast in the role of Oppenheimer; Emily Blunt as his wife Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer; Damon as Gen. Leslie Groves, director of the Manhattan Project; and Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss, who as U.S. Secretary of Commerce and head of the Atomic Energy Commission was known to actively dislike Oppenheimer.  Others in the cast include Florence Pugh, Rami Malek, Josh Hartnett, and Jack Quaid.