Christopher Nolan wants to make something "not quite as bleak" after 'Oppenheimer'.

The iconic filmmaker admitted working on the nuclear drama - which told the story of the "father of the atomic bomb" J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) - was "a great privilege", but he's looking forward to moving onto a lighter subject matter for his next film.

Asked what's next, he told Yahoo Entertainment: "There’s definitely part of me wants to leave the story behind.

"It’s a great privilege to be able to talk about a film that you’ve made that's now going into the home on 4K and Blu-ray and all the rest.

"It’s great to be able to sit here and talk to you about the success of the movie. That’s a huge privilege.

"But the subject matter is very dark. It’s nihilistic and yeah, there's part of me that's quite keen to move on and maybe do something not quite as bleak.”

Nolan, 53, noted the importance of not being too heavy handed with such a serious topic, and giving audiences the chance to delve in on a deeper level of their own accord.

He explained: “I think with Oppenheimer, my hope was that the seriousness of the subject matter would resonate beyond the story, beyond the actual dramatic experience of watching the film.

"But I feel that if, as a filmmaker, I’m too self-conscious about that or trying to tell people what to think or be a didactic, that tends to put people off.

"They feel that effort. And I feel that effort in films sometimes, and you’re less receptive, actually, ironically, to whatever the intentions of the filmmaker might be."

He suggested the best approach is to focus on a "great story", and trust that the rest will come naturally.

He added: "So to me, it’s really about engaging the audience in a great story, and then hopefully if I’ve done my job right, there’ll be resonances beyond that.

"Maybe just by bringing my own fear of nuclear Armageddon, my own fear of how these weapons might one day be used, just bringing that into the foreground of what the story is. Hopefully that’ll resonate with people.”

Read the full interview here: https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/christopher-nolan-oppenheimer-interview-spike-lee-reaction-oscars-chances-nuclear-drama-195729398.html