In “Oppenheimer” star director Christopher Nolan portrays the “father of the atomic bomb” and leader of the secret Manhattan project. The thriller epic starring “Peaky Blinders” star Cillian Murphy tries to make the impossible possible in three hours with a star-studded cast: The “paradoxical ethical dilemma” of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the inventor of the most dangerous weapon in the world, to be made tangible and comprehensible.
“Oppenheimer” characters in reality check
For this, Nolan draws on the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography “American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer” by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, which portrays the inventor himself as a hostage to his own creation. But Oppenheimer did not manage the path to the invention of the atomic bomb alone.
Numerous scientists and politicians were involved in the construction of the bomb as part of the Manhattan Project, including physics legend Albert Einstein, who got the project rolling, Oppenheim’s brother Frank, who worked as a particle physicist on the first atomic explosion, or the head of the US Office for Scientific Research and Development Vannever Bush, who obtained approval to build the bomb – to name just a few. These were embodied in the film by stars such as “The Dark Knight Rises” actor Tom Conti, “You” star Dylan Arnold or “Stranger Things” actor Matthew Modine.
You can see how the most important contributors to the Manhattan Project look in direct comparison to the film characters in the photo series above.
Source: “Oppenheimer Production Notes”