#Shelby Kay

[happywebdesign]

https://shelbykay.dev/

[kisses4kaia]

in my feelings was so good ahhhh i would love to see a part 2 where its the morning after or like tommy slowly showing reader how he rly feels !! deciding they are gonna stay married 😍😍

yes yes yes!! so grateful for the love on imf tho i kinda wanna mention that it’s highly inspired by in my feelings by lana del rey. so go stream it !! oh and fair warning; this is tooth rotting fluff. do not read if you aren’t prepared to swoon.⚠️ (part one here)

blue velvet🥿 - t, shelby ,,

that night, you and tommy didn’t speak another word to one another.

for months, the only times you and him would speak would be when of two things. you would speak either about mundane things, like the weather and plans for the evening.

or, when the two of you fucked.

although he had you often, you were sure he was seeing other women, too. by the lipstick stains on his collars in a shade of red you wouldn’t be caught dead wearing and also by the hushed whispering of the maids, feeling pitiful for you.

it killed you, because deep down, behind all the fights and ‘i hates you’s, you loved him. hatable as he is, yes, but you loved the person he was when he wasn’t on his guard, who he was deep down.

but he was always on his guard. there were only a few times you had seen him off of it.

it happened when you were 13. tommy had just turned 15 and a party much like your wedding was thrown for him.

unbeknownst to many, tommy shelby was not a party man. never was, never will be. he was frankly the only person within his hectic family whom possessed that quality.

so, he snuck away from the garrison- where the party was being held- and carefully made his way over to the river bank behind your house.

he didn’t know it was your house, honest. simply, he loved the scenery. he loved the sound of the horses happily trotting in their stables and the sound of the dogs chasing each other around the prairie.

there was no fence separating your backyard to the river, and so one of your dogs made his way to the birthday boy who was dangling his legs just above the stream.

“hey, buddy,” he laughed as your dog snuck up behind him, licking his face and neck. he quickly found himself forever petting frankie and scratching behind his ears, too.

he looked around and behind him, but no owner was to be found. he held frankie in his lap, resting his chin atop frankie’s head.

thomas remained like that for a while, occasionally speaking rhetorically to the dog. “today’s my birthday, you know. they threw me a party, can you believe it? i wish they knew me well enough to know i absolutely loathe parties.”

frankie was soon asleep in tommy’s arms, breathing serenely.

“frankie!” your terrified voice called from a distance behind tommy.

he turned around to see your face relax at the sight of your dog safe and sound.

“i’m sorry, is this your house?” he asked, waving to the house and barn in the close distance.

the sun was setting, and the horizon never looked so beautiful as the waning sunlight shined on your face. that was the moment tommy knew he’d met an angel on earth.

the way your toothy smile shined stupidly as you sighed and nodded, being awfully proud of your home.

“oh, i’m sorry. i’ll go, i didn’t realize i was trespassing. my apologies,”

that had to be the first time you heard of tommy shelby apologizing to another person.

you quickly shook your head. “no, stay. you mind if i sit with you?” you didn’t wait for his answer before plopping right down next to him, your legs being even shorter than his as they dangled next to one another.

he looked at you to see if you were joking or just completely oblivious to who he was. then he laughed, figuring he was in much need of some friendly company.

now, this was before you and tommy had ever met. however, you knew of him, of his notorious reputation of being cruel. you knew what people thought of him, but you wanted to know him. to you, he was just misunderstood, and in dire need of a friend.

you two sat there and talked. minutes turned into hours as you talked and talked until the cicadas sung and the blue hue’d moon began her nightly waltz with the silver stars.

he told you about his birthday disaster and his family, about his love for horses and for knowledge.

he laughed, he argued, he listened, he smiled, and he was happy. really, truly, very, happy.

you didn’t judge him, didn’t hedge or waffle around any subjects in fear of what he might do to you if faced with an opposing opinion. you treated him like a normal person.

“i like you, tommy shelby,” you admitted, the once cool grass beneath you now warm due to your everlasting presence atop the soil.

“i like you too, y/n y/l/n.”

and you met him at the same place everyday after that, just talking. you told him everything about you, all your innermost thoughts and secrets. about your mother and your animals, about your love for history and reading.

and in return, he- eventually- let you know of his vulnerabilities and weaknesses.

from tommy, that was like being gifted the most expensive, purest, most glimmering, block of gold.

his feelings towards you were becoming stronger and stronger each time he returned to the river bank. tommy soon realized he couldn’t be around you anymore.

although he told you most of his weaknesses and such, he never told you of one.

you.

he felt a certain way about you, a feeling he couldn’t shake. he was growing weak, and thomas shelby could not be weak.

- and he wasn’t planning on it, so he just… stopped showing up.

for weeks, you would wait for him at sunset by the stream behind the stables, but he never showed again.

and when you became friends with ada and often visited her home, he would avoid you like the plague. it confused and angered you. how could someone go from so warm to so cold in less than a month?

you gave up on it soon after, figuring you wouldn’t chase after anything that’s running.

as a result, you ignored him just as he ignored you.

up until year 9.

you always wondered what happened, what caused him to become so cold to you when he was just letting you in.

it was too late now to simply ask, so you were left to be forever in the dark.

tommy came home late that night, as he did every night. yet another confirmation of his infidelity.

you sighed to yourself, forcing a semi-smile on your face as you walked out of the drawing room to greet your husband.

“hello, thomas,” you smiled through gritted teeth, trying your hardest to maintain a smile as he scowls at your sudden appearance.

“alright, then. i’ll be reading if you need me, i suppose,” he nodded dismissively at you, and all sense of respect you tried to hold for him, drained in an instant.

your smile dropped and you rolled your eyes with a grimace when you walk away, not even bothering to spare him another glance.

by the time dinner was served, you hadn’t seen tommy once.

you ate alone, as thomas was busy in his office. you sighed after you finished your meal, grabbing a clean dish and fixing tommy a plate.

your heels clacked against the wooden tiles beneath your feet as you made your way to thomas’s office, plate in hand.

you knocked twice, not bothering to wait for his response before walking into the study.

“you missed dinner, thomas,” you placed the food before him on the desk, disregarding the important paperwork and documents you sat it atop.

he sighed, looked down at the plate, then up at you through his gold-rimmed glasses.

“i’m sorry? is that what you want to hear?” he continued working studiously, secretly willing you to leave him alone.

it took everything not to set fire to that desk.

“why’d you come home so late? hm?” you asked softly, but wished to scream.

“there was work that needed to be done,” said tommy nonchalantly.

you laughed. like, genuinely laughed. “huh. work that needed do be done at brothels?”

he looked annoyed, like you were some bothersome pest. “why do you care? you really expect some faithful husband from me? you’re the one who wanted this to be an arrangement,”

you opened your mouth to yell back but realized he was right.

no, this marriage is not one you want. so? was that his fault? it wasn’t, but you so badly wanted it to be, because how could he have stolen your heart then abandon it like breathing? and get away with it?

it was then you realized you were crying. tommy suddenly rose from his desk. “oh, i-i’m sorry. i didn’t-fuck- i didn’t mean to make you cry,”

he tried to approach you, put his arms around you, but you turned around and put your arm out, signaling for him to stop.

“y/n, i’m sorry. really, i’m sorry. please don’t cry,” he ignored your request for him to stay away and wrapped his arms around you.

you tried to push him off of you, but he just kept holding you.

he let you fall into his chest and collapse on the ground.

“why?” you croaked out, looking up at him through wet lashes, your nose rosey and cheeks stained.

“what?” he was confused, but continued to run his fingers through your hair.

you sniffled and rose to your feet again, thomas following suit.

“why did you stop coming to the river bank?! why did you leave me alone just when you finally began to let me in?!”

you were hitting him now, pounding your fists on his chest, and he was annoyingly unaffected.

“what? sweetheart, slow down,”

your heart was pounding in your ears and you felt your heart drop to your toes when you heard that. tommy hasn’t called you anything but your name since the river bank. and at the river bank, his favorite nickname for you was sweetheart.

insanely enough, you started laughing through your tears. laughing because you were confused? hurt? you don’t know, all you know is for some reason, this is all fucking hIlarious.

tommy’s confused, more confused than you, probably. “y/n, what is so funny?” he approached you again, and this time you’re too wrapped up in your head to care or stop him.

all of a sudden, the pain hits you again, with the force of a train, and you are desperate for closure.

“do you know how long i waited for you? every day, by the river?” your eyes were drying now, and anger was overtaking you.

he blinks and suddenly it’s like he finally understands the seven wonders of the world. “fuck, is that why you’re upset?”

you couldn’t help but stare at his stupidity. “thomas, you led me on for weeks, weeks! and then you stop showing up, because, i’m presuming, i grew boring? or you found some new, young, prettier, thing? you could have told me!” cried your weakening voice.

he opens his mouth to speak, but you aren’t done. “i guess not much has changed. i’m still so boring to you? you still need other women although i’m ruining my life being with you, isn’t that ri-“

he abruptly cut you off “fuck, y/n! it’s because i’m ln love with you!”

your attention was immediately all on him.

“you… what?”

“the reason i stopped coming to the river bank in because i’m in love with you. the reason i go to the brothels is because i am so fucking in love with you and i can’t be! i know, i know, you don’t love me too, okay? i know this is but an arrangement, i know. but, please understand that it kills me to pretend like i don’t,”

you couldn’t believe what you were hearing, the word ‘love’ sounding foreign from thomas.

“that’s doesn’t make any sense. why would you stop seeing me if you loved me, start seeing other women?”

now he was scoffing at your ignorance. “don’t you get it? i can’t afford to be in love, not when i have the biggest bounty in the city on my head. i can’t put that danger on you, i’d die before. also, it scares me, quite frankly,” he whispers the last part.

you couldn’t hold back the twitching smile on your lips. “why didn’t you say anything?” whispered you softly.

he chuckled lightly. “you know yourself, you’d never had given up on me,”

you tilted your head in a ‘touché’ manner.

“i do love you too, you know. in case you couldn’t tell,”

a short silence whisked in the air like a winters breath.

“c’mere, sweetheart.” his voice beckoned you over towards him.

you slung your arms around his shoulders. “what if we… didn’t divorce?”

you smiled up at him before kissing him. “i think that’s a good idea.”

tags; @mrkdvidal1989 @fairytale07 @svtansdaddyx

[horneybeach1]

Hello 👋 🌹,

I hope you are well 🌺.

You are someone with many fans and followers. ♥️

Can you help me get my voice heard and share my family’s story? 🙏

By helping to reblog my post from my blog, you could save a family from death and war. 🌹

Note:My old Tumblr account was deactivated💔, and I need your support again♥️.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for any help you can provide. 🌹🌺

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no matter peoples own thoughts, innocent lives are being ended in a genocide. please do all you can to help stop this or aid families in palestine.

[themuselesswriter]

American Horror Story Thoughts

I did a whole thing about it, so enjoy suffering through my ranking and favorites.

[buffyfan145]

Just saw those articles today about Netflix planning more spinoffs for their shows and movies like they're doing for "Stranger Things". One is for "Wednesday" about Uncle Fester, but the other is "Peaky Blinders" with 2 spinoff shows. One is a sequel series set in Boston and dealing with the various crime families there, while the other is a prequel series about Polly when she was young. These two are also added onto the "Peaky Blinders" movie which is still in the works too. The others getting spinoffs are "The Witcher", "Extraction", "Money Heist", and "Army of the Dead". Plus, there's been rumored spinoffs for "Cobra Kai" too.

[slutforgarlogan]

"i move the stars for no one" | masterlis / notice !! @rileyscissorhands

|Ri!|she/her|enfp|cancer|hufflepuff|

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ask box is open feel free to send things other than requests too im a silly funny girlie I'll respond!!

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➳ Request rules !

➳ just for reference, anything w a picture of a character and a quote above is a song lyric correlated to a character - all tagged #rileys song correlations

[cupidbread]

send me requests guys 😭😭😞😞😞😭😭

[br4tcult]

˖ ݁𖥔 𝖇𝖗4𝖙𝖈𝖚𝖑𝖙'𝖘 𝖓𝖆𝖛𝖎𝖌𝖆𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 𖥔 ݁˖

𝖍𝖎, this is a side blog for my fandom related things/fics/etc!

𝖇𝖆𝖘𝖎𝖈𝖘: twenty-two, she/her, bi, procrastinator and artist x

𝖗𝖊𝖖𝖚𝖊𝖘𝖙𝖘: open !! 𝖒𝖆𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖑𝖎𝖘𝖙: here !!

𝖜𝖍𝖔 𝖎 𝖈𝖔𝖒𝖒𝖔𝖓𝖑𝖞 𝖜𝖗𝖎𝖙𝖊 𝖋𝖔𝖗⤵︎

❥ anakin skywalker

❥ sam drake

❥ tommy shelby

𝖜𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖎 𝖊𝖓𝖏𝖔𝖞⤵︎

❥ uncharted series (+tll)

❥ hayden christensen

❥ peaky blinders

❥ the vampire diaries

❥ steve harrington

𝔰𝔦𝔡𝔢𝔫𝔬𝔱𝔢: i have very recently decided to come back to fan fiction and such, hence the LIMITED masterlist,,, but i intend to write again (for real this time, my 2019/21 stints were short lived) so, say hi, request, anything! i have no one to talk to about my resurgence of love for fan-fiction pahaha

𝖔𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖗 𝖇𝖑𝖔𝖌𝖘:

main: @peachestofreeze (art/aesthetic)

side: @iwannabeafictionalcharacter (reblogged fics)

side: @soupinoven (funzies)

[denimbex1986]

'In some ways, Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan’s biggest non-superhero movie, was a product of the pandemic. Until the winter of 2020, the director had been loyal to Warner Bros., and their logo was to be found on every film that Nolan either wrote, directed or produced.

While he was never formally tethered to that studio, Nolan had been monogamous as its cornerstone tentpole filmmaker, ever since his 1999 breakout indie film Memento led him to create Insomnia there.

That year, however, everything changed. The usually mild-mannered director was outraged by the decision of former WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar to perpetrate a blindside dumping of the studio’s entire slate onto its HBO Max streaming service. This attempt to build subscribers for its streaming service at a time few were going to theaters incensed Nolan and many others. The filmmaker was still wounded by the studio’s decision to release Tenet while the world had yet to fully emerge from lockdown.

In fact, he didn’t even have a film in the bunch being dumped, but he was nevertheless upset to see films made for the big screen — like Dune, The Matrix Resurrections, Wonder Woman 1984 and future Oscar-winner King Richard — drop day and date. As much a warrior for the traditional theatrical experience as Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino, Nolan decided he would look elsewhere; no idle threat when you consider that the movies he directed there grossed north of $6 billion (more when you consider the DC films he produced or godfathered).

When Deadline revealed that Nolan would make Oppenheimer, and that Cillian Murphy — still riding high on the success of showrunner Steven Knight’s period gangster series Peaky Blinders — would likely play the title role, the news landed like a bombshell. Every studio responded by chasing it, and there were rumors that Warner Bros. might not even get a meeting. The lucky winner was Donna Langley, NBCUniversal Studio Group Chairman, who, like several other studios, agreed to Nolan’s ask for $100 million to make his movie, along with creative control and a massive global theatrical release.

“I’d wanted to be in business with Chris for a long time,” she says, “and he was always near the top of my blue-sky wishlist of directors. Just as movie fans, whose movies do we love? Chris’s name was always close to the top of that. And from a strategic standpoint, as we were coming out of the pandemic, it was very clear to us that the cinematic experience needed to be undeniable in order to get people back into movie theaters. Chris’s work is undeniably cinematic. He makes films for the audience to see in the movie theater. And so that became a strategic imperative for us.”

Her determination to land the project increased when she read the script. Juggling multiple timeframes, Oppenheimer explains how the work done by scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer in the early 1940s — the top-secret Manhattan Project, based in Los Alamos — led to the creation of the atomic bomb and the end of the Second World War. It also deals with Oppenheimer’s guilt, and how the American establishment turned on him once he’d served his purpose.

In there were two career roles, one for Irish actor Murphy as Oppenheimer, and another for Robert Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss, the bureaucrat nominated to be Eisenhower’s Secretary of Commerce. Strauss was so insecure about being snubbed by Oppenheimer, Einstein and other geniuses while a member of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission that he would try to play silent assassin to Oppenheimer’s reputation by staging a controversial hearing to revoke his security clearance and render him a pariah.

“I was just transported by it,” Langley says. “I was so relieved that it wasn’t a mind-bending, twisty-turny, science fiction extravaganza that I needed an encyclopedia to understand. This was a story about a living person and a moment of time and history. It’s one of the best screenplays I’ve read in my career.”

It was a script with all the trappings of a Christopher Nolan movie — shifting timeframes, complex characters — and it had an emotional core that struck Langley deeply. “It’s very intimate on the one hand, but it also has a giant scope,” she notes. “The world is on the point of collapse, there’s technology and innovation being chased after by multiple countries, and America has to be first in the race to get there. At the time, being deep into the Ukraine war, I was really struck by how resonant and relevant the story was. And as Chris put it to me, ‘This is the greatest American story never told in cinema.’”

Kilar is long gone now, and Warner Bros. is a more theatrical-friendly place, as theatrical has become the priority for event films once again. Nolan won’t say whether this was a one-time fling, but it is hard to deny he saved his best film for Universal. Unusually for a three-hour, non-franchise film released in July, it has made a near-billion-dollar gross, won seven awards at the BAFTAs (including Best Film and Best Director), and is widely believed to be the Oscar favorite, receiving 13 Oscar nominations that put the film in the frame for the same key categories, while recognizing Murphy, Downey Jr. and Emily Blunt for their work in the acting categories.

Nolan vividly remembers the time first he ever saw Murphy: it was a photograph in a newspaper, probably the San Francisco Chronicle. The director was staying in a hotel in the Bay Area, writing and rewriting the script for Batman Begins, while at the same time scheduling screen tests for the lead role. At the time, he didn’t know who was going to play Batman. He was, he says, “just looking to see who was out there.”

What caught his eye was an image from Danny Boyle’s apocalyptic zombie thriller 28 Days Later: though Murphy was covered in blood, the actor’s bright blue eyes provided stark contrast to the bleakness of a new reality spent eluding flesh-eaters. “It was a cool photo,” says Nolan, turning to Murphy. “You could see your eyes, and your presence. I was just very struck by it.”

“Had you seen the movie then?” asks Murphy.

“No,” says Nolan. “I literally just saw a picture. I then watched the movie, but the truth is, I already was interested. These things are very instinctive, and that’s the relationship that an audience has with an actor as well. It’s an instinctive and instant connection. So, yeah, love at first sight. I see the picture and I’m like, ‘Man, that guy’s got something.’”

Nolan invited him to LA for a meeting. They met, connected, and suddenly Murphy was on the Caped Crusader shortlist of actors Nolan tested for the role that ultimately went to Christian Bale. “But I think at the time you were quite a bit… more slight than you are now,” recalls Nolan. “You walked in, and I remember thinking, ‘Are you really going to be able to be Batman?’”

Still, Nolan was interested to see what Murphy was capable of, shooting a screentest with the actor reading some of Bruce Wayne’s scenes. He shot them in 35mm on a Warners soundstage with full, professional lighting — “Because I really wanted the studio to really be able to see what this was going to be” — and the results surprised him. “I just remember a sort of ripple of excitement going through the crew,” he says. “Hollywood crews, particularly, they’re very professional, but quite jaded. They’ve seen a lot of stuff, so you don’t often get that kind of thing where you feel everyone is paying attention.”

Murphy wasn’t expecting to get the part. “I remember knowing it was a test,” he says. “From my point of view, I was already a fan of Chris’s work and I just wanted to get in the room and audition. That would have been enough. I was totally content at that stage of my career just to say, ‘Oh man, I was in a room with Christopher Nolan, and we worked on some scenes.’ And then he called me out of the blue. I did not expect him to say, ‘Well, how about this other part?’”

That other part was the film’s main villain, the Scarecrow, which marked a significant shift in the Batman franchise. “I don’t remember having any resistance whatsoever to having a relative unknown take on a big part like that,” Nolan says. “And previously all those villains were played by actors like Arnold Schwarzenegger or Jack Nicholson. They were the biggest stars in the films. But no, [the studio] got it. They were all blown away by the test.”

So, what made him right for the villain but not Batman? “I don’t think he had the physicality at the time,” says Nolan. “We tested everyone as Bruce Wayne and we tested them as Batman, and the thing that Christian had that was so striking was that he understood that so much of acting is about reality. So much of acting is about emotional truth. And when you put on a costume like the Batsuit, you have to become this icon. Christian had this crazy energy that he just directed. He’d figured out how that worked and what that would be — the way Bruce Wayne does in the film. He adopts this persona. It’s a very specific thing. And he tore a hole on the screen as Batman. It was like, there was no question.”

Nolan turns to Murphy. “But it was interesting watching Peaky Blinders years later and seeing you play Tommy Shelby,” he says. “Whatever it is we’re talking about here, you’d figured it out. That’s an iconic character with an oppressive presence, where he walks into the room, and everything goes quiet, and he owns that space. In the way Batman does, or an iconic character of that kind. There’s a physicality that’s extremely confident and strong in everything he does, in every gesture.” He pauses. “Is that a conscious thing you’ve developed over the years, or was it just looking at that part and thinking, ‘How do I do that?’”

“I think it was both,” says Murphy. “But I also think I felt, back then, that that was a part I hadn’t really explored before, that kind of physically imposing character. I’d never been offered those parts. But I always think, Chris, that one of your underrated strengths is casting. Everyone knows all of your amazing strengths, but you cast things exquisitely. And I think the Scarecrow was the right part for me to be in at that time in my career.”

So, what makes an actor right for the type of role he was wrong for earlier? “I’ll tell you a story,” says Nolan. “I was talking to one of the crew, Nathan Crowley, who designed the Batman films. He told me he had seen Peaky Blinders. I hadn’t. And he said to me, ‘Yeah, Cillian put on all this weight for the part. He’s big.’ I watch it, and I’m like, ‘That’s not what it is, it’s not that.’ I mean, maybe he did put some bulk on, maybe he’s just getting older and more filled out. But that’s not what I saw. I was like, ‘No, this is physically the same guy, but he is using his gift, his instrument, to project scale in a way that I hadn’t seen before.’”

While it took him time to summon that presence, Murphy agrees that it had more to do with craft than physical bulk. “When I was a kid, about 16, I had the great privilege of seeing Jonathan Pryce play Macbeth at the National Theatre in London,” he says. “I had only seen him in films like Brazil, and he was a fairly slight guy. I watched him in real life play this huge role and he just seemed like this enormous force. It was about projecting.”

“I don’t know how you do that,” says Nolan. “And it’s probably something you don’t like to be too self-conscious about, but what I saw you do, what Tommy showed me, that’s what I saw, was an ability to transcend your own physicality, your body, and work beyond that and make people see this character in a different way. I mean, that’s the gift of great actors. And I don’t know how it works, but I’ve seen it.”

“I don’t know what it is either,” says Murphy.

Whatever that elusive quality was, Nolan knew he needed it to tell the story of Robert Oppenheimer. From his feature-length debut, the sleight-of-hand thriller Memento, to the Dark Knight Trilogy, and the boundary-bending likes of Inception, Interstellar and Tenet, Nolan has always been unafraid to tackle ambitious and complex narratives. But framing Oppenheimer’s story was to be the biggest challenge of his career.

Nolan grew up in the U.K. in the 1980s, during the Cold War and the continued concern over the danger of the arms race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. His curiosity about Oppenheimer began with a lyric in Sting’s 1985 song “Russians”, in the which the singer asks, “How can I save my little boy from Oppenheimer’s deadly toy?”

“I’m a little older than Cillian here, but he probably remembers growing up in the U.K. in the ’80s,” says Nolan. “It was a time of great fear of nuclear weapons. I talked to Steven Spielberg about this. It was like growing up in the ’60s, with the Cuban missile crisis. The ’80s were a very similar thing. There were protests, and there was a lot in the pop culture about nuclear weapons. But it was Sting’s song ‘Russians’ where I first heard Oppenheimer’s name, and there was this very palpable fear of nuclear Armageddon.”

The 2005 book American Prometheus, by Kai Bird and Martin J Sherwin, captured Nolan’s interest further (in Greek mythology, Prometheus defied the Olympian gods by giving man the gift of fire). “It was after reading American Prometheus that I started to see a way in which you could tell this as a story, by taking on Oppenheimer and seeing it really from his point of view. And everything else followed after that. With something like the fear of nuclear weapons, you have to have a human way into that, and, for me, that was Oppenheimer.”

What struck Nolan in reading the book was hearing that Oppenheimer and his brother would go to Los Alamos as children to camp. “The connection between Los Alamos and the nuclear weapon he was developing, that comes from Oppenheimer’s childhood,” he notes. “He wanted to combine his interest in New Mexico — playing cowboy like he did, that love of the outdoors — with physics, and that’s what he did with the Manhattan Project.”

More so than the propulsive elements of the story, that the Americans were in a race against time to beat the Nazis, it was that element that convinced Nolan he, indeed, had a movie. “Once I’d read that, that’s where I started to see a personal connection,” he says. “And once you have the personal, then you start looking at the events, this thriller aspect to it that just kept coming in with everything that happened to Oppenheimer after 1945. It was a bunch of different things coming together.”

Indeed, Oppenheimer was later subjected to a politically charged tribunal that stripped his security clearance and rendered him a pariah, adding to his burden of having unleashed a weapon that, in the wrong hands, could destroy the world and had already cost over 100,000 lives when the bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end WWII.

“American Prometheus is such a remarkable book,” Nolan muses. “Martin Sherwin worked on it for 20 years before Kai Bird joined. They did another five years. It’s a quarter of a century of research and interviews. I got the benefit of that, which was wonderful.”

Key to the story’s attraction was Oppenheimer himself, and Nolan was determined to unravel the scientist’s enigma. We’ve seen depictions of the fragility of genius in films like Shine, A Beautiful Mind, even Good Will Hunting, and how the brightest intellects can come unstuck. But Oppenheimer seemed to enjoy his post-WWII fame on the covers on Time and Life magazines, and in speeches. Was he a narcissist or a hero?

“I think he was definitely a hero, definitely a narcissist,” Nolan concludes. “He was a lot of different things. Very theatrical. What I got from American Prometheus, and what I started to get interested in is, he was someone who had a lot of neurosis and a lot of trouble very early in life, as he came of age at the same time that he was wrestling with these incredibly abstract concepts. We tried to fuse those things, show this kind of energy inside him and show how he masters that. And all the imagery of atoms and splitting atoms to me, they’re very related to his internal state, as a young man in particular. There’s a lot of dangerous tension inside this guy. A lot of dangerous mental energy.”

Murphy proved to be a strong physical match for Robert Oppenheimer; his handsome looks lent themselves to the theoretical physicist’s status as a womanizer, and those blue eyes were an ideal cipher for the wildness of those early scholarly years, when Oppenheimer was trying to harness his genius. All this came as a surprise to Murphy, back when Deadline revealed that Oppenheimer was Nolan’s next secret project and that he wanted Murphy to be number one on his call sheet, after five other movies with the director.

“I tried to ignore your story because I hadn’t heard from Chris or Emma [Thomas, Nolan’s partner and producer],” Murphy says. “It came out, everyone was texting me, and I said, ‘No, there must be some sort of mistake,’ or, ‘It’s just a rumor,’ because I hadn’t heard from those guys. A day or two later, Chris called me. This was out of the blue. Because Chris doesn’t write the script with actors in mind, which, when you think about it, is really, really smart because he doesn’t put any limitation on himself as a writer, or on the actor. So, it came out of the blue, and in the best way possible because I was unemployed. I hadn’t any work lined up.”

“It was perfect timing,” says Nolan. “He could have easily said, ‘Well, I’ve got a thing…’”

Murphy remembers that he had just finished up work on Peaky Blinders. “Bear in mind I said yes before I read the script,” he says, “because I always do that with Chris.”

Then it was Nolan’s turn to sweat, when he showed Murphy the script. “I said, ‘How about it?’ After Cillian said he was in, I flew to Dublin, and he came to my hotel and sat and read the script. I went off to the Hugh Lane Gallery and looked at Francis Bacon’s Studio, which I’d always wanted to see. And then we came back, and we had a chat about it. I remember doing this with Heath [Ledger] on The Dark Knight. He’d signed up for it, and then I showed him the script. There’s that moment of, like, ‘Are you going to feel good about that commitment?’”

He turns to Murphy. “But you seemed very into the script. You seemed very… I wouldn’t say relieved, I’d say you seemed excited.”

At this, Murphy breaks into a big smile. “It was one of the greatest scripts I’d ever read,” he says. “It was just astounding. But I knew it was huge. I knew this wasn’t just a part you could turn up at next week and get going. I was immediately going, ‘All right, f*ck, f*ck, f*ck. I’ve got to do all of this. This is huge.’ And, in fact, I was already working, getting going before I read the script. I knew I just had to go at it meticulously and make a strategy to go at it because there was just so much to do, emotionally, physically and intellectually.”

Murphy did more than just try on Oppenheimer’s signature hat. “I immediately started reducing calories,” he says, “which was a stupid thing to do, like, six months away from shooting. But I wanted to start feeling like him. I watched all the historical materials. I read the book, obviously. I started looking at all his lectures online. Any other stuff that was around. All the accounts from people that knew him were really, really interesting to me. Talking to [physicist] Kip Thorne, who was the scientific advisor on it. He had been lectured by Oppenheimer, which was really, really useful.”

Nolan interrupts. “That was a good thing,” he says, “because I’ve done a couple films with Kip; Interstellar was Kip’s original idea. I’d called him because I needed his help on the whole quantum physics thing. And in the course of the conversation, I realized that when he was at Princeton, he’d attended Oppenheimer’s lectures at the IAS. So immediately I was like, ‘Well, will you get on the phone with Cillian and talk to him about how he taught?’

Those testimonials helped Oppenheimer capture gestures and mannerisms that most of the audience for the film wouldn’t register.”

Says Murphy, “Kip talked about how Oppenheimer held his pipe on stage, and how he had the cigarette in one hand and the chalk in the other hand; We talked about how he was very aware of his presence, his legend, and his theatricality, all of that stuff.”

“I remember you telling me after you spoke to Kip, and we incorporated it into the staging as well,” says Nolan, “that Oppenheimer would let people talk. He was very good at summarizing a discussion. Which I think became absolutely key to the whole, to all of the Manhattan Project scenes.”

“He was an excellent synthesizer and manager,” Murphy agrees. “He didn’t seem the obvious choice for it, but he was.”

Together, Nolan and Murphy found the physical style for the lanky Oppenheimer, and one of the style influences was David Bowie, circa 1976. “Everything about him was constructed,” says Nolan. “Oppenheimer constructed his entire persona, his entire self. That’s why I threw the David Bowie photographs at you, Cillian. This was the Thin White Duke era. David Bowie has these crazy high-waisted trousers that were very, very similar in proportion to what Oppenheimer would wear at the end of Los Alamos. Bowie was always the ultimate self-constructed pop icon, and I think Oppenheimer was similar, in his own way. Obviously, it’s a completely different world, but he used his persona to achieve a mass of things.”

Murphy, who started out with the intention of a music career until he turned down a record deal and chose the acting life, sparked to the influence. “When Chris sent me that, I printed that picture out and I put it on my script,” Murphy says. “He sent it to me with no context, and I knew exactly what he meant, because I’m a music nerd and I could see the crossover. So, it was there in the back of my script for the whole shoot.”

More important, however, was getting Murphy ready for the emotional toll that playing Oppenheimer would bring, particularly after his triumph in Los Alamos. History hasn’t been kind to war heroes, as was seen when British mathematician/computer scientist Alan Turing cracked the Nazi enigma machine code — a breakthrough that shortened the Second World War — only to be punished for his homosexuality, which was illegal at the time. Similarly, Oppenheimer became a punching bag in a politically charged kangaroo court.

“I’m plagued by a line from The Dark Knight, and I’m plagued by it because I didn’t write it,” says Nolan. “My brother [Jonathan] wrote it. It kills me, because it’s the line that most resonates. And at the time, I didn’t even understand it. He says, ‘You either die a hero or you live long enough to become the villain.’ I read it in his draft, and I was like, ‘All right, I’ll keep it in there, but I don’t really know what it means. Is that really a thing?’ And then, over the years since that film’s come out, it just seems truer and truer. In this story, it’s absolutely that. Build them up, tear them down. It’s the way we treat people.”

Murphy believes that the security of 20 years working together emboldened him. “If you don’t have that history, or that level of trust, with a filmmaker,” he says, “I don’t know if you can be as brave or can dive in like I was able to on this one.”

Nolan has his own theory. “Maybe I’m wrong,” he says to Murphy, “but I feel like, after finishing Peaky Blinders, you were in a peculiar place in your career, because you’d been playing the same character for a lot of years. Very, very well with massive success, creative success and artistic success, and also people recognizing the success. You must have felt very comfortable in that character. Steven Knight’s writing is beautiful, and is always challenging the character, but it’s still a second skin that you’d developed that you were slipping into. But then you’re moving to an arena where all that’s gone. This was a true ‘out of the hot tub and into the cold plunge’ moment.”

Nolan appreciated the effort it took. “For me, particularly with such a big cast, Cillian was the element I was able to completely take for granted,” he says, “to the point where on Downey’s last day, he came up to me and said, ‘Do you understand how hard this guy is working for you?’ It was towards the end of the shoot. He was like, ‘He’s exhausted.’

And I said, ‘Thanks, Robert, he’ll be fine.’ And he was fine. But the point was taken that, yeah, I was able to take what he was doing on set for granted because I knew how great the work was. But the reality is, I didn’t realize the magnitude of the performance until I put it together in the edit suite. This is true, I think, of all great performances; you see what you see on set. But then, in the edit, you actually see it the way the actor has performed it. Even though you have been shooting in a crazy order, he’s figured out how all these pieces go together, and then you start to see it come together. It’s a really pretty magical thing.”

One of the first filmmakers Nolan showed the film to said something that really stuck with him. “There’s never that moment where you see the actor realize how great the part is,” he recalls this director telling him. Nolan knew exactly what he was talking about. “Because that’s the thing,” he says. “Particularly with serious movies, or when an actor has a great opportunity, you see them enjoying the taste of it a little too much. There’s always that moment. And that is not in this performance. This performance is totally pure. To me, this performance is much more about the real world, the way people are flawed, continuously flawed. There’s not one little thing they do wrong — we’re all good and bad, and there are layers of that. Oppenheimer is the absolute essence of that. The performance embraces that and carries the audience. But if the performance didn’t unselfconsciously embrace that, it wouldn’t work at all.”

Murphy is flattered. “It’s the nicest thing you could say,” he smiles. “But for me, I remember when I was doing it, if at any point I ever felt, I don’t know, anxious or insecure, I would always think, ‘No, Chris has seen something in me, and he’s drawing something in me out that I didn’t know was there really before.’ And I remember saying to him before we started shooting — because he’s always really pushed me in the best way, and he pushes all his performers in the best way — ‘Push me as hard as you possibly can on this one,’ because I knew we had to do that.”

The payoff comes in the ending, when the audience learns what Albert Einstein (Tom Conti) actually says to Oppenheimer. Strauss looks on, but Einstein walks past and ignores him. That Strauss was insecure and petty enough to believe their chat was about him, instead of being an intimate moment between geniuses who each bore the burden of creating weapons of mass destruction that pulled the world into a dangerous new age, is… Well, let Murphy describe it.

“I’m all about third acts and endings,” he says, “and when I read the script, that time in Dublin, knowing that’s one thing Chris always nails, I remember thinking, ‘What a f*cking ending.’ It’s extraordinary. And that’s from Chris’s imagination. It’s not from history, but it’s just genius. You can write an extraordinary script, but you can write yourself into a corner and the audience feels shortchanged if you don’t nail the f*cking ending.”

Says Nolan: “We talked very carefully about the moment where Kitty [Emily Blunt] says, ‘Did you think if you let them tar and feather you the world would forgive you? It won’t.’ I love the way Cillian performs in that moment, it was so important to me that it hit this exact note. And I didn’t know what that exact note was. I just knew that I’d know it when we hit it, because it needed to be sort of self-conscious in a slightly more open way.

“In the rest of the film, everything Oppenheimer does that’s a little bit vain or a little bit self-conscious, it’s almost as if he’s unaware of it,” Nolan says. “And I feel like in that moment, he opens up to the audience just a hair more, and says, ‘We’ll see.’ Because he puts the question to the audience, in a way. ‘Do you think the world will forgive you?’ ‘We’ll see.’ And I think the jury’s still out very much, but I think he’s definitely better thought of than he would be if he hadn’t been made to suffer.”

To Nolan, putting Oppenheimer, and Murphy, through the wringer in the latter part of the film evoked many higher themes. “When I showed it to Kai Bird for the first time, I said, ‘Look, this is my idea of who he is. This is who I feel he is. I feel that he’s ahead of those people in that room who are torturing him. I feel like he does have a vision to the world beyond that. And it’s partly a vision of fear, and a vision of the idea of the chain reaction. But it’s also partly how history will judge him. And if he fights too hard, or even if he won that fight…’

“It’s a bit Christ-like really, isn’t it?” he suggests. “It’s sort of knowing that the way to win is actually to lose. That was what I felt was inside him, and then the way you played it, Cillian. But there’s also great suffering. And I thought, I mean, Jason Clarke does such a wonderful job in the scene. And what nobody knows, because they weren’t there, but when we were filming your side, he just went nuts.”

Murphy interrupts. “Well, you f*cking made him go nuts! I thought at one point he was actually going to punch me out. It was like this big push in on me, each one, and I said to Chris, ‘I don’t know what you said to him, but he was like a f*cking animal, man.’ And then you used that take.”

Nolan lights up at the memory: “He was throwing stuff, and that’s mostly the take we used. It’s a combination of different takes, but that one was absolutely key. I just thought it was wonderful, but he hadn’t shot his side yet, and I worried he was going to lose his voice. But we came back the next day to do his side.”

“This is a case in point,” says Murphy, “where we were doing that big push. I remember going, ‘Do you think we got it, Chris?’ And you were like, ‘Eh. Let’s go again.’ I love that. You could say, ‘We can all go home now,’ but instead, you said, ‘Let’s just go again.’ Sometimes it doesn’t work, but that time it did.”

When the atomic bomb test succeeds, Oppenheimer is carried on the shoulders of others like a football coach who’s just won the Super Bowl. There’s even a scene in which Harry Truman (Gary Oldman), the president who dropped Oppenheimer’s bombs on Japan, is shown to be disgusted by the physicist’s remorse. But his role in the destruction and massive loss of life in Hiroshima and Nagasaki must have left Nolan with a real balancing act.

“As you put a script together,” he says, “you try and focus in on things like, what’s the key idea that has to work here? What are the key shifts that you need the audience to be struck by? And in the case of Oppenheimer, it was very clear to me that the whole purpose of the screenplay is to go from the absolute highest high of triumph, with Trinity, to the sheer lowest low of the realization of Hiroshima, in as short a time as possible.

“That was always going to be just a crazy shift,” he continues. “We talked about this a lot, in the moment where, earlier in the film, the atom is split. And then when Luis Alvarez [Alex Wolff] reproduces the experiment, in the script Oppenheimer immediately, as he did in real life, jumped to the idea that, you could make a bomb from this. The way in which Cillian performed that, it was very precise because it couldn’t be portentous. Obviously, he’s playing an intelligent man and he’s talking about bombs, but we couldn’t signal to the audience the negativity of where that was going to go, in terms of his frankly existential dilemma, the burden he’s going to carry later. You don’t want to foreshadow that in the performance. It was very important that the performance not foreshadow that, that it’d just be part of his journey that he’s interested in. To him, it’s actually exciting.”

In Nolan’s mind, the job is to paint a picture to help the audience form its own opinion about nukes, rather than betray his own morals and have it amount to feeding the audience cinematic spinach. “For me,” he says, “cinema can never be didactic, because as soon as it tells you what to think, you reject the art, you reject the storytelling. You see that a lot, particularly this time of year. It’s like people want movies to be able to send messages. But the truth is, I’m with whichever mogul who said, ‘Call Western Union if you want to send a message.’ In taking on Oppenheimer’s story, I don’t think there’s anyone who thinks that nuclear weapons are a good thing, so there’s not much point in telling the audience that.”

He pauses. “I’m sorry I’m going on a bit about this, but it’s a really interesting question. I had to explain this to everybody very early on: I’m not interested in making a story about how naive scientists accidentally created something that’s terrible for the world and then felt bad about it. Oppenheimer was one of the smartest people who ever lived. He knew exactly where this was going. The point is, they had to do it. They were put in a position where they believed that if the Nazis got the bomb, it would be the worst thing imaginable for the world. And so, they had to do what they had to do. But they did it knowing that the consequences would be potentially awful.

“That’s what makes the story so compelling from a human point of view. It’s not that they didn’t realize where this was going. It was that they felt they had no choice.”'

[pupsmailbox]

NEUTRAL LEANING MASC NAMES ⌇　abner.　 abram.　 adam.　 adrian.　 alex.　 alistair.　 andreas.　 ariel.　 arlen.　 arley.　 arlo.　 ash.　 atlas.　 auden.　 august.　 austin.　 avery.　 bailey.　 baron.　 barrett.　 baylor.　 beauden.　 bee.　 bellamy.　 bennett.　 blair.　 blaise.　 bowen.　 brayden.　 brendan.　 bronson.　 bryce.　 byron.　 caius.　 caleb.　 callahan.　 callan.　 calloway.　 callum.　 camden.　 cameron.　 carlin.　 carson.　 casey.　 cassian.　 chandler.　 chase.　 cody.　 cole.　 connolly.　 corban.　 corwin.　 cyrus.　 dallas.　 damion.　 damon.　 daniel.　 darius.　 davis.　 dawson.　 daylon.　 denver.　 desmond.　 devin.　 doran.　 dorian.　 drew.　 elian.　 elias.　 ellery.　 ellison.　 emery.　 ethan.　 evan.　 ezra.　 fallen.　 farren.　 finley.　 ford.　 foster.　 gabriel.　 gannon.　 garner.　 gavin.　 gentry.　 graham.　 greer.　 griffin.　 guthrie.　 harley.　 harlow.　 hartley.　 hayden.　 henley.　 henry.　 heron.　 hollis.　 hunter.　 ian.　 irving.　 isaiah.　 jace.　 james.　 jameson.　 jared.　 jeremiah.　 joel.　 jonah.　 joran.　 jordan.　 jory.　 josiah.　 jovian.　 jude.　 julian.　 juno.　 justus.　 kalen.　 kamden.　 kay.　 kayden.　 keaton.　 kellan.　 keller.　 kelly.　 kendon.　 kieran.　 kit.　 kylan.　 landry.　 lane.　 lennon.　 leslie.　 levi.　 leyton.　 liam.　 linden.　 lowell.　 luca.　 madden.　 marley.　 marlow.　 marshall.　 martin.　 mason.　 mathias.　 mercer.　 merritt.　 micah.　 miles.　 miller.　 milo.　 morgan.　 morrie.　 morrison.　 nate.　 nevin.　 nick.　 nicky.　 nico.　 nicolas.　 noah.　 noel.　 nolan.　 oren.　 orion.　 owen.　 parker.　 percy.　 perrin.　 peyton.　 pierce.　 porter.　 preston.　 quincy.　 quinn.　 reece.　 reid.　 reign.　 rein.　 remi.　 remington.　 renley.　 riley.　 river.　 robin.　 rollins.　 ronan.　 rory.　 rowan.　 russell.　 ryan.　 rylan.　 sam.　 samuel.　 sawyer.　 saylor.　 seth.　 shiloh.　 soren.　 spencer.　 stellan.　 sterling.　 talon.　 taylor.　 thaddeus.　 thane.　 theo.　 toni.　 tracy.　 tristan.　 tyrus.　 valor.　 warner.　 wells.　 wesley.　 whitten.　 william.　 willis.　 wylie.　

NEUTRAL LEANING FEM NAMES ⌇　abigaël.　 abilene.　 addison.　 adrian.　 ainsley.　 alexis.　 and.　 andrea.　 arden.　 aria.　 ashley.　 aspen.　 aubrey.　 autumn.　 avery.　 avian.　 ayla.　 bailey.　 beryl.　 blair.　 blaire.　 blake.　 briar.　 brooklyn.　 brooks.　 bryce.　 cameron.　 camille.　 casey.　 celeste.　 channing.　 charlie.　 chase.　 collins.　 cordelia.　 courtney.　 daisy.　 dakota.　 dana.　 darby.　 darcy.　 delaney.　 delilah.　 devin.　 dylan.　 eden.　 eisley.　 elia.　 ellerie.　 ellery.　 ellie.　 elliot.　 elliott.　 ellis.　 ellory.　 ember.　 emelin.　 emerson.　 emery.　 evelyn.　 ezra.　 fallon.　 finley.　 fiore.　 florence.　 floris.　 frances.　 greer.　 gwenaël.　 hadley.　 harley.　 harper.　 haven.　 hayden.　 heike.　 hollis.　 hunter.　 ivy.　 jade.　 jamie.　 jocelyn.　 jordan.　 jude.　 juno.　 kelly.　 kelsey.　 kendall.　 kennedy.　 koda.　 kyrie.　 lacey.　 lane.　 leighton.　 lennon.　 lennox.　 lesley.　 leslie.　 lilian.　 lindsay.　 loden.　 logan.　 lou.　 lyric.　 madison.　 mallory.　 marinell.　 marley.　 mckenzie.　 melody.　 mercede.　 meredith.　 mio.　 misha.　 monroe.　 montana.　 morgan.　 nico.　 nova.　 oakley.　 olympia.　 owen.　 page.　 palmer.　 parker.　 pat.　 paulie.　 perri.　 petyon.　 peyton.　 phoenix.　 piper.　 priscilla.　 quinn.　 raven.　 ray.　 reagan.　 reece.　 reese.　 remi.　 remy.　 riley.　 rio.　 river.　 robin.　 rory.　 rosario.　 rowan.　 ryan.　 rylie.　 sacha.　 sage.　 sam.　 sammy.　 santana.　 sasha.　 sawyer.　 saylor.　 severin.　 shannon.　 shelby.　 shiloh.　 skye.　 skylar.　 sloane.　 sol.　 soleil.　 sterling.　 stevie.　 sutton.　 swan.　 swann.　 sydney.　 tatum.　 taylo.　 taylor.　 tracey.　 valentine.　 vanya.　 vivendel.　 vivian.　 vivien.　 wren.　 wynn.　 yael.

[fayesia]

⋆｡°🕷𝖐𝖎𝖓𝖐𝖙𝖔𝖇𝖊𝖗 𝖒𝖆𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖑𝖎𝖘𝖙๋🕷°｡⋆

🕯️MINORS DO NOT INTERACT 18+🕯️

*open to anyone submitting requests for dates with no character, even though i have backup characters, it would be much appreciated!!!*

*brief summaries will be added to each day the closer to October we get*

1st mutual masturbation - Anakin Skywalker

2nd praise - Mike Schmidt

3rd toys - Kit Walker

4th dubcon - Sirius Black

5th monsterfucking - Sukuna

6th edging - Aaron Hotchner

7th breeding - Daemon Targaryen

8th car sex - Logan Howlett

9th cockwarming - Regulus Black

10th anal - Dick Grayson

11th double penetration - Soap + Ghost

12th food play - Vinsmoke Sanji

13th piercing - Sam Monroe

14th hate fuck - Kai Anderson

15th bondage - Tate Langdon

16th mirror sex - Bruce Wayne

17th wax play - Aemond Targaryen

18th spit play - Joel Miller

19th somnophilia - Brahms Heelshire

20th facesitting - Spencer Reid

21st gun play - König

22nd gags - Jason Todd

23rd overstimulation - Art Donaldson

24th size kink - Wolverine

25th daddy kink - Toji Fushiguro

26th exhibitionism - Finnick Odair

27th thigh fucking - Peter Parker

28th choking - Bucky Barnes

29th degradation - Thomas Shelby

30th deep throat - Steve Rogers

31st spanking - Jason Todd

*any works left uncompleted will be posted as oneshots*

[horneybeach1]

Hello sorry for an ask. I am very sick, my asthma is at its maximum level, my nose freezes, I have no medicine or food. I am in bad shape financially, I am a black disabled, who uses multiple medications, I pay for my food and lodging

Unfortunately I do not have all the resources to keep me safe, that is why I need your help, whatever you can contribute to me will be of great help.

I’m so sorry to hear this. Please take some time to see how you can help.

[peakyltd]

Hi Daisy, I've come to request a John fic with the fluff prompt ❛ do you think the moon is jealous of how pretty you are? ❜( If you feel inspired, of course!) It seems like a line he would use!

Thank you for your request Lee! 🥰 This line really is something John would say, I already saw that cheeky little grin in my mind.

A/N: I wrote it pretty quickly but then I had some trouble with the flow of the story. I feel like it might not completely live up to what I wrote before. So if that's the case, I'm sorry. Anyway I hope you still like and enjoy it. I certainly did have a lot of fun writing John, it reminded me how much I love his character!

Warnings: Swearing. A few rude comments on Linda? Nothing serious. Other than that it's just pure fluff.

Word count: 2002

Family Dinner

"Please remind me that if you ever want to have a family dinner at our house again, that I'll say no." John mumbles in her ear as he wraps his arms around her waist. "Why?" (Y/N) giggles, looking up at him.

They’re both standing in the kitchen as (Y/N) is finishing up the home made dinner. It was her idea to invite his family but it took her some time to convince John.

"It's pure chaos and Linda is pissing me off with her nagging." He answers her, chewing on this toothpick. "John, you can't say that." She chided, eyeing his family who were sat at the table. The distant was big enough for them not to hear John complaining.

"Oh c'mon (Y/N), don't act like you don't think the same thing." He says as he takes her chin gently between his fingers, turning her face back to him.

As their eyes meet, she can't help but laugh. "See? This is exactly what I mean." John laughs. "I really hope Arthur will grow his balls b-" (Y/N) cuts John off by putting her hand on his mouth, shushing him. "Ssh!" She whispers as she lowers her hand.

"Can I help you with the food (Y/N)?" Linda asks as she approaches the kitchen. "Oh no you don't have to Linda, I'm almost finished. It will come right up"

"It's really no bother." She smiles. "Thank you but it's all set, John will be our waiter tonight." (Y/N) jokes, earning a chuckle from Linda. John, on the other hand, rolls his eyes as he turns to the counter. He takes the toothpick out of his mouth and cuts off some of the meat (Y/N) made.

"If you change your mind, I'll be right there." Linda points at the empty chair next to Arthur. (Y/N) smiles at her. "I appreciate it, Linda." She answers. Watching the woman return to her seat.

(Y/N) hears a deep sigh coming from behind her. "It's no bother" He imitates her. "To me it is." John adds while eating some meat. She pushes playfully against his shoulder. "John."

"I'm right there." He imitates her again. "As if she just came walking in, she's already sitting there for hours."

"John please." (Y/N) chuckles. "She means well. What has she done to you?"

John leans against the counter. "She has to fucking comment on everything someone says or does. As of right now yeah, Arthur just had a drink or two too many. He’s not even pissed yet but she keeps asking him if it's really a good idea to take more whiskey." He sighs frustratedly. "I know I need more whiskey if I need to listen to her any longer."

(Y/N) places her hands on his cheeks and pulls him closer to her. "Try to let it go for tonight, okay? They're both adults and if Arthur has had enough of it, he'll let her know." "He won't." He defends.

"Lets just enjoy the night." She adds as she kisses him softly. "Okay?" "Hm 'kay" John mumbles against her lips as he puts his hands on her waist, pulling her in for another kiss.

The dinner went well, the Shelby's enjoyed the fresh made food and the drinks were flowing. John had visibly relaxed and was slumped back in his seat, laughing at the conversation he was having with his brothers and cousin.

The kids were running in and out of the house, hopefully getting rid of their last energy of the day before going to bed. Ada was talking to Linda and Polly watched the family, a pleased smile on her face.

(Y/N) went back into the kitchen to get her selfmade pudding. She was excited about the dessert ever since the day she knew his family came over for dinner. It was her favorite and she loved to make it. She added some strawberries on top before taking it back to the table.

Before she could even reach the table, the kids came running in, chasing each other. A shout of John could be heard but it was too late, a few of them bumped into (Y/N). The sudden impact caused her to drop the pudding.

A loud gasp comes from her mouth. “Oh no…” She watches it splash apart, leaving it all over the floor. Disappointment filling her features.

“What have I said about no fucking running around the kitchen! Look what you've done!" John bellows as he stands up, the children immediately apologize. "Sorry mom." "Yes sorry aunt (Y/N)."

She sighs. "It's okay. Don't worry about it. Be careful next time, yeah?" They nod. "Now go back outside." John adds strictly, glaring at the kids. He made sure they were out of sight before he made his way to the kitchen.

"I'm so sorry." She apologizes to his family. "Don't be sorry, love. We've had already more than enough." Polly smiles at her. "We'll come back for pudding another time."

(Y/N) nods, wiping the remains of her dress. "Here let me help you." A voice came from behind her. John got a few towels for her to clean her dress and helped her to tidy the mess on the floor.

Once they were finished she sat back down in her chair. Feeling better after John’s attempts to cheer her up.

Rumbling was heard from the kitchen as John appeared with two bottles of whiskey in his hands. He lifted them above his head, a big grin on his lips. “I got a new dessert!” He cheered. A sigh coming from (Y/N)’s lips. “Oh god…”

As their evening came to an end, (Y/N) and John said their goodbyes to his family. Their exit was as chaotic as their entrance. Arthur was too drunk and had to be helped into the car by Tommy and Finn. Which resulted in John having tears rolling down his cheeks from laughter and a very annoyed Linda.

When Tommy told John to "shut his fucking mouth or he would help to do so" it caused Arthur to have his own fit of uncontrollable giggles. A lot of shouting and more laughter had followed until Polly and Ada finally managed to get everyone in their cars. As soon as the cars drove out of the drive way, peace had returned.

John wiped the tears off his face. "Did you see his face? Bloody idiot." He started laughing again. "I don’t want to know how they will get him out of the car." (Y/N) giggles. "I would leave him there. He can get out by himself in the morning." He chuckles.

As his laughter calmed down he took a deep breath. "I have to admit that I enjoyed this night more than I thought I would." "I'm glad you did." She beams at him as she pulls him in for a hug, leaning her head against his chest.

John strokes her hair and kisses the top of her head. While he is looking at the garden, an idea pops up in his head.

"Shall I light the fire pit? The weather is still lovely and I wouldn’t mind to spend some time alone with you." He offers. (Y/N) looks up at him. "Oh yes, I would love that. I'll quickly check on the children, I hope they didn't wake up from all the noise."

"Alright." He gives her a quick kiss, leaving her smiling. He collects some branches and makes his way to the fire place.

Once upstairs (Y/N) checks the bedrooms of their children. She finds them sound asleep, as if nothing happened. All of them too tired from their eventful night.

As (Y/N) arrives back outside, John was already sat in front of the fire. A whiskey in his hand and a new toothpick in his mouth. “They’re still sleeping.” She tells him. "I’m glad." He says as he gets up.

"Do I need to get your coat?" "No I'm fine, it's still warm enough." She assures him. "I did get you a blanket." He points at the chair next to his, a blanket hanging on the back of the chair.

She smiles at his gesture. "Thank you, John." She says, sitting down. The fire warms her skin immediately. "I got your wine." John sits next to her, showing her the bottle and filling her glass. "You're such a gentleman, John Shelby."

He chuckles as he hands her the glass. "Of course I am." He answers, putting the bottle down next to him. (Y/N) takes a sip of her drink, leaning back against the chair. The blanket had already warmed up by the fire, making her feel at ease. She takes a deep breath as she looks over the meadow next to their house.

John mimics her and watches the fire. The reflection of the flames dancing on his face. "Aren't we lucky?" She asks, looking at him. "I know I am, I have the most beautiful woman in the world." He grins at her. She blushes lightly at his comment. "Are you flirting with me?" She chuckles.

"Maybe." He smirks at her. "Is it working?" "It already worked a while ago." She jokes. (Y/N) grabs his hand, she softly strokes it with her thumb. John squeezes hers gently. "But yes, it is working." She admits.

A peaceful silence fell over them as they're both sipping on their drinks. As the flames become smaller, John put extra woodblocks and branches in the fire pit. He catches (Y/N) staring at the sky. He looks up as well, gazing at the moon and many stars that were visible this night.

"Do you think the moon is jealous of how pretty you are?" He asks (Y/N) as he looks at her, a cheeky grin on his face. She shifts her gaze to him. "My god John." She giggles, hiding her face in her hands. John laughs as he grabs her hands and pulls her up from her chair.

"Don't hide that pretty face of yours." He chuckles. He sneaks his arms around her and pulls her closer. (Y/N) wraps her arms around his neck, brushing her fingers over the short hair on the back of his head.

"I do think the moon is jealous of how pretty you are." John confesses to her as he looks into her eyes. "Nothing compares to you. Not even the moon."

(Y/N) blushes, admiring John’s face. "I love you so much." "I love you too, darling." He tells her as he moves his face closer to hers.

"Before you kiss me, please let me do this." She whispers, earning a confused look from John. (Y/N) takes the toothpick out of his mouth and throws it into the fire.

"Oh." He chuckles. "I don't think it would add much good." She smiles. "You never know, maybe you're into it." He jokes. (Y/N) can't help but giggle at his stupid joke.

“You make me the happiest, John.” She tells him, her voice soft. “Imagine how you make me feel.” John grins at her.

He moves his face closer to hers again. His breath fanning her face. (Y/N) feels the butterflies in her stomach, they're giving her a giddy feeling. She gently pulls him closer until their lips connect.

The kiss starts off soft but steadily becomes heated as they're exploring each others mouth. One of John's hand slowly lowers until he stops on her butt, gently grabbing ahold of it. He grins as she let out a soft moan. Her fingers are tangled in his hair as her other hand rests on his neck, wanting more.

John slowly breaks this kiss, breathing heavily. "I can't get enough of you." He breathes out as he strokes her cheek with his thumb. (Y/N) smiles at him, catching her own breath. "We don't have to stop yet." She teases him. "I wasn't planning on doing so." He smirks as he pulls her in for another passionate kiss.

One of many they would share that night.

[incorrect-koh-posts]

Masterlist of KoH-related Novels

Below you'll find a list of every novel I know of that is set in the same period as Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven (2005), covers at least some of the same events and features some or all of the historical figures that also appear in the film. The list will be updated occasionally as I work my way through. Enjoy!

✷ English-language novels & novels available in translation

1879: Lady Sibyl's Choice (Emily Sarah Holt) -> thoughts

1937: The Leper King (Zofia Kossak, originally published in Polish) -> thoughts

1954: Knight Crusader (Ronald Welch)

1965: The Wandering Unicorn (Manuel Mujica Lainez, originally published in Spanish) -> thoughts

1969: The Knights of Dark Renown (Graham Shelby) -> thoughts

1989: Alamut (Judith Tarr)

1991: The Dagger and the Cross (Judith Tarr)

1992: Pagan's Crusade (Catherine Jinks)

1996: Jerusalem (Cecelia Holland) -> thoughts

1998: The Book of Saladin (Tariq Ali)

1998 - 2000: Arn the Knight Templar series (Jan Guillou, originally published in Swedish)

The Road to Jerusalem (1998)

The Knight Templar (1999)

The Kingdom at the End of the Road (2000)

2004: Crusader King (Susan Peek)

2006: Sand Daughter (Sarah Bryant)

2007: The Leper Crown (George Morgan)

2009 - 2021: The Magdalen Cycle series (Scott R. Rezer)

#1: The Leper King (2009)

#2: The Pawns of Sion (2015)

#3: The Gambit Queen (2021)

2011: The King's Witch (Cecelia Holland)

2011 - 2013: Saladin trilogy (Jack Hight)

Eagle (2011)

Kingdom (2012)

Holy War (2013)

2011 - 2023: The Last King of Legends series (Serafia Cross)

#1: The Kingmakers (2011)

#2: In the Face of Trials (2012)

#3: The Sovereign Gambit (2015)

#4: The King's Last Deeds (2023)

2012 - 2017: Outremer Chronicles series (Peter Tolladay)

#1: The Templar's Apprentice (2012)

#2: The Harsh Mistress (2014)

#3: The Thorn in the Crown (2016)

2014 - 2016: Balian d'Ibelin series (Helena P. Schrader) -> thoughts

#1: Knight of Jerusalem (2014)

#2: Defender of Jerusalem (2015)

#3: Envoy of Jerusalem (2016)

2018: Templar Silks (Elizabeth Chadwick)

2018 - 2020: The Brotherhood series (K. M. Ashman)

#1: Templar Steel (2018)

#2: Templar Stone (2019)

#3: Templar Blood (2020)

2018 - 2023: Watchers of Outremer series (Suzannah Rowntree)

#2: The Lady of Kingdoms (2019)

#5: The House of Mourning (2023)

2020: The Leper King (Peter Busby)

2020: The Land Beyond the Sea (Sharon Kay Penman) -> thoughts

✷ Non-English novels not available in translation:

1959: L'Étoile de Pourpre (Serge Dalens & Pierre Joubert, French comic)

1999 - 2017: Die Templerin series (Wolfgang & Rebecca Hohlbein, German)

#3: Die Rückkehr der Templerin (2004)

#4: Das Wasser des Lebens (2008)

#5: Das Testament Gottes (2011)

#6: Das Band des Schicksals (2017)

2002: Thibaut ou la Croix Perdue (Juliette Benzoni, French)

2007: Las Lanzas de Jerusalén (Georges Bordonove, Spanish)

2019: Die Assassinin (Alexandra Cavelius, German)

✷ Tangentially related:

1946: mentions of KoH characters in The World is not Enough (Zoé Oldenbourg)

1997: Queen of Swords (Judith Tarr), about Baldwin's grandmother Melisende

[blackterrae]

Ideas for Black!Reader Fic

I am going to try my hand again at writing. And I wanted to share some people and fandoms that I love. If you don’t know these shows/actors/franchises/movies/streamers I’m putting you on! For the following:

Princess Bride

Alice In Borderland

Johnny Depp- All his characters

Napoleon Dynamite

Cameron Monaghan- I know that there are fics out there but it’s only always his Jerome/Jeremiah roles never just him or Cal Kestis

Anthony Carrigan- I loved Anothy as Victor Zsasz

Paul Dano- There are Riddler fics but not as many for his other roles

Damsel

The Entire Cast of Hawaii Five-0 (2010) - Don’t even get me started on how good this show is! And the cast looks amazing!

Chicago Med/Fire/PD- These shows have so much potential for fanfic storylines!

The Game (2006)- Has great potential for slow burns and fluffs.

Star Wars franchise (1977-present) - I know I said Cal Kestis but there are also other characters like Anakin, Luke, Obi Wan,Boba Fett (etc.)

NCIS franchise- I honestly love this franchise and it’s characters!

Hamilton

Any/All Sports Men- Jude Bellingham,Lewis Hamilton,LaMelo Ball,Allen Iverson(etc.)

Berleezy - He’s handsome and he’s funny!

Coryxkenshin- I literally love him and his videos!

Albert Aretz (Flamingo)- Look … he may be the epitome of mediocre white man but I like what I like!

AMP- Duke Dennis, Kai Cenat, Agent 00, ChrisNxtDoor,Davis, and Fanum ( all I gotta say is love a black man from infinity to infinity🗣️)

Beta Squad- A British YouTube/ streamer group!

SOMEBROS- Berleezy, Rico, ,PG, Joe (etc.)

WWE- come on now, do I even need to explain!!!

Four Brothers- All the cast but Garrett Hedland in particular!

Peacemaker - Don’t get me wrong I love Adrian Chase but I want to see just as much Peacemaker x black!reader fics because 2 words… JOHN CENA

MAWS- New animated Superman show! Love!

Smallville - The entire cast is hot! Tbh I fell hard for Tom Welling when I was younger when he was in Cheaper By The Dozen. Plus they literally whitewashed Vixen. COME ON! Vixen is a black female hero btw. She was also with Jon (Green Lantern) at one point.

Justice League/Justice League Unlimited (2001 and 2004)- I mean I literally can’t find any Jon Stewart x black!reader fics and he was with a BLACK WOMAN!

Warner Bros Franchise (minus the looney tunes & space jam)- There are lots of popular franchises that this company has from Fast & Furious to The Matrix!

Peaky Blinders- Saw a Tommy shelby x arms dealer black!female reader fic on my previous account but even then I couldn’t find it again on that account. So it’s gone with the wind. And the cast (i.e the actors and other characters they’ve portrayed). Example: Cillian Murphy as Johnathan Crane.

The Bear

FBI (All)

The good doctor

Tiktokers: Vinnie hacker

Blue Bloods

Will Poulter- I haven’t really seen any Adam Warlock fics

Slashers

Stranger Things

Cruel Intentions

Burnt

Dave Lizewski

Eddie Redmayne

Macgyver (2016)

Fresh Prince of Belair

Guardians of the galaxy- Explanation? Do I really need one?

On My Block

Descendants (characters will be the actors age in real life.duh)- Love Boo-boo Stewart & Mitchell Hope!

Matt Rife

Joey Bragg (Liv &Maddie) - What can I say I love dorks!

The Boys- Haven’t seen that many fics about the characters and a black reader

Once Upon A Time- I love dark fairytales sometimes because they remind me that not every story has a happy ending and you have to learn from them. But this series is good for any theme really.

Walker Texas Ranger (1993)

Top Gun

Nicolas Galitzine

Magcon: Whether you saw their vines on YouTube or vine, you know who they are

Dolan Twins

Mission Impossible

Euphoria- Entire show has great storylines with the potential of drama in fics

Shameless- Especially Carl Gallagher and Lip Gallagher

Creed- Michael B Jordan need I say more

Keanu Reeves- There are very few fics about Keanu but I’ve seen a few of his John Wick x black!reader fics (chef’s kiss) but never see any of The Matrix Fics!Also Ted (Bill & Ted)

River Phoenix

Batman Beyond

Rider Strong

Danny Gonzalez

Timothée Chalamet

Past-Present Singers & Rappers/ Groups -Bow Wow, Tupac, Lil Baby, Nelly, Omarion, Prince, Michael Jackson, Jon B,Usher, Central Cee, Måneskin, New Edition, BTS, James, PRETTYMUCH Bay, Daniel Caesar, October London, Steve Lacey, Artemas, YUNGBLUD, Andy Biersack,Eduardo Vega(etc.)

Anime(Any kind!)- Would love to see other shows, I know hunterxhunter,aot,one piece (etc.)

Bridgerton- There is very little Bridgerton stories catered around a black reader.

Marvel- Now that’s not to say that there aren’t any in fact there are many but I never see (Tobey Maguire Spider-Man stories and it seems like everyone tends to focus on the famous Marvel characters like The Avengers but not on other aspects like X-men or better yet, heroes that haven’t even gotten their own movie but are just as amazing like Squadron Supreme , it’s equivalent to DCU’s Justice League.

Secret Invasion- Not gonna lie , I’m feening for Gravik.😳

DCEU- Another franchise that pushes its other characters to the side. For example, Hush (Thomas Elliot) is literally the epitome of Bruce Wayne gone bad!

Ross Lynch- There are so many roles that Ross did so well in Like Teen Beach Movie or Sabrina.

Highschool Musical Franchise (2006- present ) I’m not just talking about HSMTS (2019), I mean even further back than that. I don’t see any Troy Bolton x black!reader and that’s crazy. I also can’t find any Zac Efron x black!reader

Interview with a Vampire (1994) and (2022)

Austin Butler- He did well in his role as Elvis!

Vikings - There are a good amount but still!

Transformers

Suits

Saved By The Bell

The Goldbergs

Parks & Recreation

Leverage

The Outsiders

Heart of Stone

New York Undercover (1994)

Addams Family

Victorious

Matpat

ICarly

The Real Bros of Simi Valley (2017)

Think Like A Man (2012)

One on One (2001)

Scorpion (2014)

The King of Queens (1998)

G.I. Joe Franchise

Terminator

Beware the Batman (2013)

Any and all Asian Idols/Actors

Seal Team

Mortal Combat

Bill and Ted

Barbie

Detroit: Become Human

Will Trent

Bones

Tokyo Vice

Growing Pains

Graceful Family (Kdrama)[Any Asian Drama shows or movies would be great as well]

The Regime

Batman: The animated series

The Sympathizer

The Invitation

Jawbreaker

Hunger Games

Saved By the Bell

Eve (2003)

Yellowstone

Superstore

Rodrick Heffley

Tracker

Girlfriends

Grown-ish

CSI

Kingsman

Jury Duty

Scoot Pilgrim vs the world

21 Jump Street (The Show and Movies)

Sky High

The Outsiders

Left

Midsomer Murders

Wayne (perhaps college AU characters will be the actors age in real life)

Carrington Bornstein

Yakuza

He’s Harmless I swear ( Webtoon comic)

Kaleidoscope ( formerly Webtoon turned Tapas comic)

Legends of Tomorrow

You

If anyone needs ideas for these franchises/movies/shows/actors/webtoons , then holla at me! I got you!

Also add more to the list if anything that you would like to see comes to mind.

Also tag black writers who you want to see this!

@sheabuttahwrites @shinsouscatpisssmell @cocoamoonmalfoy @heathenarmyimagines @cinewhore @cocoamoonmalfoy @stxxllaaa @glitterjuju @lilvampirina @breanime @blackmissfrizzle @afro-hispwriter @stargirlfics @lavenderursa @clydesducktape @pettyprocrastination @theblvckvenus @plantvenuss @punani @n-slayaaaaa @infernalodie @halfofmysoulsblog @iridecsense @tomhardydallasstarsgirl @supremethunda @thekrazykeke @canumoveurseatup-no @hiatuswhore @avintagekiss24 @ohcaptains @iguessweallcrazyithinktho @xsapphirescrollsx @sunflowertuliplily @bakarilennox @batfamily14 @ramp-it-up @blackreaders-assemble @royallyprincesslilly @funnyexel @blackterrae @slashisms @artemisthewh0re @shelbydelrey @toocriticalharlow @v-era-18 @vampsired @queenimmadolla @sinnerlillith @greengoblinswifey @apocalypse-shuffle

[denimbex1986]

My review of Oppenheimer - Christopher Nolan delivers his magnum opus; a movie that is stunning in every sense of the word, and driven by a powerhouse, career-best and Oscar worthy performance from Cillian Murphy.