Cillian Murphy defends controversial Oppenheimer sex scenes 

Oppenheimer star Cillian Murphy has come out to defend the film’s controversial sex scenes by explaining their significance.

One half of the blockbuster duo ticket Barbenheimer, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer was one of the most anticipated films of 2023.

The movie followed the life and work of J. Robert Oppenheimer, also known as the father of the atomic bomb, and is now one of the few biopics that have made almost $1 billion at the box office.

However, the film was plagued with a bit of controversy as some audiences had a hard time with the movie’s various sex scenes, but Oppenheimer star Cillian Murphy has recently come out to defend the inclusion of these scenes.

Murphy says Oppenheimer sex scenes were necessary

In the film, Oppenheimer (Murphy) has a few sex scenes with his romantic interest, Jean Whitlock, a psychiatrist and Communist Party USA member.

The scenes were pretty graphic in nature as both actors were fully nude, leading some audience members to debate on whether or not these needed to be included at all.

However, in a new interview with The New York Times, Murphy made it clear that he completely disagreed with this frame of thinking.

“It was his relationship with Jean Tatlock which was the thing that really made him lose his security clearance and ultimately kind of cost his career,” Murphy stated, “I think it was vital to highlight the intimacy and closeness of their relationship.”

This isn’t the first time that Murphy came out to defend the inclusion of these scenes as he told the Sydney Morning Herald that Nolan “deliberately” wrote in the sex scenes knowing the movie would get an R-rating.

“I think when you see it, it’s so fucking powerful,” Murphy explained, “They’re not gratuitous. They’re perfect. And Florence is just amazing.”