CGI in movies is usually reserved for the realm of action scenes, with the likes of Marvel and DC relying (perhaps a little too) heavily on computer-generated imagery to depict fantastical chases and explosions. But viewers of Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer are discovering an entirely different use of CGI – in certain countries, anyway.
Many column inches have been dedicated to the fact that, in a departure from most Nolan films, there's a fair bit of nudity in this one. But it seems countries such as India and Indonesia have seen fit to cover Florence Pugh's body with a black CGI dress – something that might make Christopher Nolan even angrier than people watching Tenet on a Game Boy.
A censored version of ‘OPPENHEIMER’ is being screen in several countries, with a CGI black dress covering Florence Pugh. pic.twitter.com/3SXea7pbCtJuly 24, 2023
"Can confirm. This is the version being screened in Indonesia. A lot of her intimate scenes with Cillian was also heavily altered too," one Twitter user commented on a widely circulated screenshot, while another added, "It was like this in my theatre and didn't even noticed that it was fake."
The decision to cover Pugh's body using CGI has drawn a bemused response for a couple of reasons. Not only is it faintly ridiculous that studios are more than happy to depict all sorts of violence (and deadly weapons including, you know, bombs) but shy away from showing a naked human body, but there's also the fact that Christopher Nolan has been very, very vocal about the fact that Oppenheimer contains no CGI at all. Leading everyone to make the same joke: Nolan will not be happy about that computer-generated dress.
Christopher Nolan finding out other countries are covering Florence Pugh with a CGI black dress in #Oppenheimer pic.twitter.com/b1TPdYQ7fcJuly 24, 2023
Nolan when he hears about the Black CGI “dress” pic.twitter.com/FU6cAz5ze3July 25, 2023
Most hilarious part about watching Oppenheimer in India is they put a cgi dress to cover up Florence Pugh’s boobs after Nolan cried about not using cgi for a literal nuclear bombJuly 21, 2023
Still, Nolan can take some solace from the fact that this is by no means the first CGI controversy we've seen this year. From the ridiculous (The Flash's flying babies) to the banal (Nick Fury in a chair), it seems computer-generated imagery is everywhere we look right now.
