How Composer Ludwig Göransson Took Viewers Inside J. Robert Oppenheimer’s Head

In film composing, the rule of thumb is often that animated movies are wall-to-wall music in which the composer must do a lot of the heavy lifting, while live-action films are more sparing with the music. But you can throw that out the window when it comes to Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” a three-hour movie with about two-and-a-half hours of bold and very prominent score from Ludwig Göransson. 

The Swedish composer, who won an Oscar for “Black Panther,” two Emmys for “The Mandalorian” and Record of the Year and Song of the Year Grammys for his work with Childish Gambino, said he did something on “Oppenheimer” that he’d never done on a film before.