James Cameron labels Christopher Nolan’s Oscar-winning triumph ‘a moral cop out’

James Cameron has criticised Sir Christopher Nolan’s Oscar-winning blockbuster Oppenheimer after signing up to direct a film on the fallout at Hiroshima.

Titanic and Avatar director Cameron, 70, is helming a screen adaptation of upcoming book, Ghosts of Hiroshima.

The book by Charles Pellegrino is based on ‘years of forensic archaeology’ alongside over 200 interviews with survivors of the atomic bomb dropping in August 1945 and their families.

Discussing his approach for the upcoming film, Cameron shared his vision and how it differed quite drastically from that of Sir Christopher and his 2023 hit movie.

Known for being outspoken, Cameron gave his frank opinion on what the film did – and didn’t – cover and speculated as to why.

‘It’s interesting what he stayed away from. Look, I love the filmmaking, but I did feel that it was a bit of a moral cop out,’ he told Deadline, adding that ‘it’s not like Oppenheimer didn’t know the effects’.

‘He’s got one brief scene in the film where we see — and I don’t like to criticise another filmmaker’s film – but there’s only one brief moment where he sees some charred bodies in the audience and then the film goes on to show how it deeply moved him.

‘But I felt that it dodged the subject.’

The scene shows Cillian Murphy as titular physicist J Robert Oppenheimer having a nightmare after seeing slides depicting casualties and the impact of his work, leading to him to imagine the face melting off a young woman who was played by Sir Christopher’s daughter, Flora, in a cameo.

However, despite its box office and awards success – grossing over $975million (£708m) and winning seven Oscars – Cameron is not the first to question the film’s apparent reluctance to engage with the horrific outcome of its protagonist’s work.

SOURCE: Kofi Acquah