Why Christopher Nolan Was 'Nervous' and 'Careful' Directing His First-Ever Sex Scenes for 'Oppenheimer'

Christopher Nolan said he felt J. Robert Oppenheimer's romantic affairs were "an essential part of his story" to cover in the R-rated film

Christopher Nolan felt sex scenes were essential for his latest movie.

The director, 52, told Insider about filming Oppenheimer and how he felt about bringing intimate moments between J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) and Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh) to the big screen.

Oppenheimer is rated R for "some sexuality, nudity and language." It's the first of the director's movies to include sex scenes; he's known for films like The Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, Tenet, Dunkirk, Interstellar and more.

"Any time you're challenging yourself to work in areas you haven't worked in before, you should be appropriately nervous and appropriately careful and planned and prepared," Nolan said, asked whether he was nervous how audiences might react to sex scenes in the movie.

Oppenheimer follows the title character's involvement with the Manhattan Project during World War II and subsequent interest in nuclear program policy in the years following the war, but it also dives into the physicist's personal and romantic relationships.

Oppenheimer had multiple affairs, including with 27-year-old Pugh's character Tatlock, before and during his marriage to Kitty Oppenheimer (played by Emily Blunt).

"When you look at Oppenheimer's life and you look at his story, that aspect of his life, the aspect of his sexuality, his way with women, the charm that he exuded, it's an essential part of his story," Nolan said.

Related: 'Oppenheimer' PEOPLE Review: Christopher Nolan's Epic About the Father of the Atom Bomb Is Stunning

In both the movie and in real life, Oppenheimer's relationship with Tatlock proved tricky for his professional and political life in the years following the war. Nolan told Insider that the pair's affair "had enormous ramifications for [Oppenheimer's] later life and his ultimate fate” due to Tatlock’s association with the Communist party.

"It felt very important to understand their relationship and to really see inside it and understand what made it tick without being coy or allusive about it, but to try to be intimate, to try and be in there with him and fully understand the relationship that was so important to him," he said.

Though Nolan's working relationship with Oppenheimer's star Murphy, 47, dates back to 2005's Batman Begins, the new movie marked Pugh's first time working with the director.

Related: Christopher Nolan and Wife Emma Thomas Attend 'Oppenheimer' N.Y.C. Premiere Without Cast amid SAG Strike

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"I met with her and immediately felt a creative connection,” the director added said of casting Pugh. "I felt this is somebody who could bring Jean Tatlock to life and have the audience understand the significance of this figure in Oppenheimer's life."

Nolan and his wife, producer Emma Thomas, attended Oppenheimer's New York City premiere Monday without Murphy, Pugh or the rest of the film's cast after Hollywood actors went on strike last week.

The movie's stars, including Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., Rami Malek and Josh Hartnett, walked the red carpet at its U.K. premiere in London last Thursday but left before the film's screening as the strike was announced.

Oppenheimer is in theaters Friday.

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