Florence Pugh and Cillian Murphy experienced some technical difficulties while filming an intimate scene for Oppenheimer.
The actress recalled the awkward moment during a recent panel appearance with Murphy and their Oppenheimer costar Emily Blunt.
“In the middle of our sex scene, the camera broke. No one knows this, but it did,” Pugh said, per Variety. “Our camera broke when we were both naked, and it was not ideal timing.”
She continued, “And one camera was in the shop being fixed, and [Christopher Nolan] turned and asked someone ‘Where’s the other camera?’ The camera was in the shop — bad news for that person who gave him the news.”
The actress explained that she and Murphy were filming the sex scene on a closed set, so someone had to come in to fix the camera. “So we’re both holding our bodies like this,” she said as she wrapped her arms around herself.
Pugh explained that she then tried to make small talk with the crew person as they took a look at the camera.
“I’m like, well, this is my moment to learn. ‘So tell me, what’s wrong with this camera?’” she recalled saying to the person. “You just make your moments. I’m like, ‘What’s going on with the shutter here, buddy?’”
She went on to praise director Christopher Nolan and the rest of the crew, saying, “It was just crazy that every person on this set was so knowledgeable and was so ready to make this kind of a movie that there was no dull moment. It was all amazing. It felt like we were lucky to be there every second of the day.”
Pugh starred as Jean Tatlock, J. Robert Oppenheimer’s longtime lover.
Murphy praised Pugh’s performance and Nolan’s decision to include the sex scenes despite it earning the film an R-rating.
“Those scenes were written deliberately,” Murphy told the Sydney Morning Herald. “He knew that those scenes would get the movie the rating that it got. And I think when you see it, it’s so f—ing powerful.”
He continued, “They’re not gratuitous. They’re perfect. And Florence is just amazing.”
Oppenheimer will be the most nominated movie at this year’s Oscars, with 13 nominations when the awards show airs March 10.
