Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer Research Unearthed A Detail Historians Missed
Anyone who's watched a Christopher Nolan movie knows that the blockbuster director has his eyes set on one thing above all else: verisimilitude. Even as someone whose movies have dabbled in superheroes, mind heists, and actual magic, Nolan always seems to circle back to grounding his stories in reality ... because, in many ways, fact really can be just as dramatic and inexplicable as fiction. In that sense, it might have been inevitable that he'd end up making an epic-sized biopic about J. Robert Oppenheimer, the so-called "father of the atomic bomb." True to form, "Oppenheimer" digs deep into its source material ("American Prometheus," written by authors Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin) to uncover every step taken on the path towards one of history's most unspeakable atrocities.
Nolan's obsessive quest to research all aspects of Oppenheimer's life and especially the political rivalry between he and Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey, Jr.), however, didn't just stop there. In fact, searching the annals of history for even the tiniest details turned out to provide the key to one of the film's most stand-out sequences — one that even writers Bird and Sherwin, who penned the definitive biography of Oppenheimer's life, neglected completely.
In the newly published book "Unleashing Oppenheimer: Inside Christopher Nolan's Explosive Atomic-Age Thriller," author Jada Yuan sheds light on many unknown aspects of the production of the movie. One fascinating tidbit involves the character of David Hill, a Manhattan Project physicist who would later become an outspoken proponent of the petition warning President Harry S. Truman against using the bomb against the Japanese. Portrayed by Rami Malek in the film, he plays a pivotal role in defending Oppenheimer during Strauss' Senate hearing. Apparently, everyone missed this in their research. Everyone, that is, except Christopher Nolan.
'These things don't happen in real life, usually'
"Oppenheimer" is filled with stand-out moments that might as well have been made for the big screen. Beyond the Trinity test detonation of the atomic device, Nolan delivered other examples of spectacle through, of all things, speeches. While Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt as Oppenheimer's wife Kitty, and Downey, Jr. receive their own highlight-reel scenes, Rami Malek delivers an underrated performance as the mousy David Hill. Late in the movie, he dramatically undercuts Strauss during his Senate confirmation hearing by calling out the "personal vindictiveness" he holds against Oppenheimer that motivated many of his duplicitous actions.
According to the book "Unleashing Oppenheimer," we wouldn't have enjoyed this moment of comeuppance if it weren't for Nolan's attention to detail. Nolan explained:
"When I found David Hill's testimony, where he just got up in front of a Senate committee in front of the whole nation and told the truth about who Lewis Strauss was, that's an extraordinary moment. His testimony was devastating because he literally talked about Strauss's vengeful nature. These things don't happen in real life, usually. It is the stuff of artifice."
As a result of stumbling upon this finding, Nolan decided to incorporate Hill's speech into the film, word-for-word. But when he showed the script to "American Prometheus" co-author Kai Bird and he came to this sequence, he had no idea who Hill was. "Unleashing Oppenheimer" quotes him good-naturedly remarking on this oversight, saying:
"I thought that was delightful. It showed that Nolan had done some of his own research and picked up on something that we'd found but not explored. It was terrific."
How great is that? Even months after release, "Oppenheimer" still holds plenty of secrets waiting to be discovered. You can start with a copy of "Unleashing Oppenheimer."