Christopher Nolan’s brother was an alleged hitman who went by the name ‘Oppenheimer’
Long before the 2023 movie was being made, Christopher Nolan's brother Matthew was accused of being a hitman who used 'Oppenheimer' as his name.
You know Oppenheimer, it's the story of a genius whose name begins with 'O' who creates something famous that ends a war in dramatic fashion but comes to realise the thing he's most famous for might have done lasting harm to the world.
That's also a reasonably accurate summary of Christopher Nolan's latest movie The Odyssey, which is getting bums on seats in cinemas around the world in a way that gives one hope that the great art of filmmaking still has some fight left in it and the future won't all be 10 second reels on TikTok.
Anyhow, if you were to Google 'Nolan Oppenheimer' then you'd get all sorts of information about the director and his movie, but according to Newsweek back in 2009 Christopher's brother Matthew was arrested and charged with murdering a man and allegedly used 'Oppenheimer' as a codename.
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In 2005 the body of an accountant named Robert Cohen was found by a fisherman on the banks of a river in Costa Rica, with an autopsy for the 63-year-old man indicating he'd suffered massive trauma to his body before his death.
Luis Alonso Douglas Mejia was convicted of the murder, but court documents accused Matthew Nolan of being involved as a 'hired killer' and claiming he used the alias 'MM McCall-Oppenheimer'.
According to The Times the Oppenheimer here refers to a South African family with lots of diamonds and not the famous scientist who is the subject of the 2023 movie that bears his surname.
Matthew Nolan was never convicted of involvement in Robert Cohen's death, but in 2009 he was arrested by an FBI agent and charged, though a judge in the US didn't see enough evidence to convince them to extradite Nolan to Costa Rica.
As far as Newsweek can tell it's possible that Matthew Nolan did use the name 'Oppenheimer' at some point, but the allegations he was a hitman contain 'no concrete evidence'.
Meanwhile, the director's other brother Jonathan helped Christopher co-write The Prestige, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises and Interstellar.
He's also who co-created confusing cowboy show Westworld and has worked on the successful Fallout TV show.
As for Christopher Nolan's latest work, The Odyssey is garnering critical acclaim and appears to be a storming success at the box office which is encouraging for people who like their cinemas to keep existing.
It's also the first feature-length film to be shot entirely on IMAX, so that would seem to be the optimal viewing experience for those who are actually able to buy a ticket before they all sell out again.
There's only a few cinema screens in the world that can screen 70mm IMAX, with only 41 cinemas in the world capable of doing it.
It might be difficult to see it in one of those few locations, but you get The Odyssey up on that screen and you are really looking at that Odyssey.
Topics: Christopher Nolan, Celebrity
Joe Harker