Where was Oppenheimer filmed? Filming locations explained

With Cillian Murphy in the titular role in the true story thriller, the star-studded cast also includes Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Robert Downey Jr and Matt Damon, as they tell the tale of the theoretical physicist who helped develop the first nuclear weapons on the Manhattan Project.

But where did writer and director Christopher Nolan, the mastermind behind blockbusters such as The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, Tenet and Dunkirk, choose to shoot his film? Read on to find out!

Where was Oppenheimer filmed? Filming locations explained

Oppenheimer really was a cross-continent affair, as Nolan chose several locations within the USA as the perfect places to make his movie - with many of them being as historically accurate to the story as possible.

Commencing filming last year, filming mainly took place in New Mexico - specifically in the capital, Santa Fe, and Los Alamos.

Codenamed Site Y, Los Alamos served as the location for the Oppenheimer house and office, as well as the site for all his experiments.

Neighbouring Los Alamos, Santa Fe is a desert city in New Mexico that served as Nolan’s set for the Trinity Test Site. The location where the world’s first atom bomb was tested holds an important place in US history, and Oppenheimer leaves no stone unturned to depict all that went on at the site.

Nolan also had the task of creating the universities that J Robert Oppenheimer was a professor at.

Before he was appointed to head the Manhattan Project, Oppenheimer had an illustrious career as an academician during his time as a professor at the University of Cambridge in Berkley between 1929 and 1943.

Murphy was seen filming in front of Wheeler Hall and the main library, both of which were redesigned with vintage lamp posts. From the LeConte Hall, which housed his office, to the Campanile Way, the university became a major filming location for this biopic.

The Edwards Stadium - located at Fulton Street, on the Southwest corner of the UC Berkley campus - is another noted Oppenheimer filming location, and it also appears in the trailer.

Additionally, the director’s crew travelled to the University of California Los Angeles campus, where Oppenheimer once taught. Both Murphy and Pugh - who plays Jean Tatlock, a physics professor at UCLA and Oppenheimer’s love interest - were spotted filming on the college grounds.

Greater Los Angeles also became a pivotal filming location, and Murphy and Damon - who portrays Lieutenant General Leslie Groves, the engineer who was one of the architects of the Manhattan Project - were spotted exiting the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in military attire.

Finally, the cast also shot at Princeton University in New Jersey. Oppenheimer served as a director here between 1947 and 1966, and this is also the place where the physicist met his colleague at the time, Albert Einstein (played by Tom Conti in the film).

Murphy, Damon and Downey Jr - who plays Lewis Strauss, a Jewish naval officer who became the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission - were seen shooting in front of the university’s East Pyne library building. The team also took to the streets of New Jersey to film additional post-war scenes.

Oppenheimer will be released in UK cinemas on Friday, 21st July. Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what's on tonight.

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