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denimbex1986 · 10 months

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'Director Christopher Nolan assembled an all-star cast for his summer blockbuster “Oppenheimer,” a biopic about physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer and the creation of the Manhattan Project. The film, based in part off the definitive Oppenheimer biography “American Prometheus,” stars Cillian Murphy as the famed scientist...

J. Robert Oppenheimer

One of the 20th century’s great enigmas, J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967) was born into a wealthy New York family. His pick as the head of the Manhattan Project was a risky one: He was a theoretical physicist, not a practical one, and he was well known for his eccentricities. But Oppenheimer transformed into a bureaucratic mastermind, deftly leading scientists and the military together at Los Alamos.

After the war, he was swept up in the nationwide panic over communism, and several key figures within the U.S. government accused him of being a Soviet spy. Some of his former colleagues turned on him in a 1954 hearing that would end in the revocation of his security clearance. After a lifelong habit of smoking up to five packs a day, Oppenheimer died of throat cancer in 1967. He is played by Cillian Murphy (“Peaky Blinders,” “Inception”) in “Oppenheimer.”

Kitty Oppenheimer

Kitty Puening (1910-1972) was born in Germany and immigrated to the United States when she was a toddler. Described by friends and acquaintances as smart, mercurial and vivacious, Oppenheimer was her fourth husband. Her first marriage lasted just a year, and she soon became the common-law partner of Joseph Dallet Jr. a member of the Community Party. Bolstered by his convictions, Dallet left for Spain to fight in the Spanish Civil War. He died in combat in October 1937.

When Kitty met Oppenheimer at a party in Pasadena two years later, she was married to her third husband, Stewart Harrison. Kitty became pregnant with Oppenheimer’s child in 1940, and they asked Harrison to grant Kitty a divorce. The Oppenheimers had a son and daughter together. Kitty’s ties to the Communist Party were part of the evidence put forward by Oppenheimer’s detractors.

Kitty Oppenheimer is played by Emily Blunt (“A Quiet Place,” “Jungle Cruise”).

Jean Tatlock

Described by some as the love of Oppenheimer’s life, Jean Tatlock (1914-1944) was a pioneering doctor in the Bay Area. She attended Stanford Medical School and became a clinical psychiatrist in her 20s. Her brilliance attracted Oppenheimer, who met her at a house party in Berkeley. The pair were on and off for years until Tatlock called their engagement off in 1939.

Tatlock was found dead in her San Francisco apartment in 1944. She was just 29...Tatlock is played by Florence Pugh (“Little Women,” “Midsommar”).

Ernest Lawrence

Long before Oppenheimer became a household name, Ernest Lawrence (1901-1958) was one of America’s most famous scientists. He joined the physics faculty at UC Berkeley in 1928 and, the next year, was joined there by Oppenheimer. Both in their 20s, they became close friends — Lawrence later named his son Robert in Oppie’s honor. While at Cal, Lawrence invented the cyclotron, which earned him a 1939 Nobel Prize.

However, their friendship soured, as the men butted heads about the future of nuclear weapons. After the war, Lawrence pushed for more government funding into nuclear research, and founded the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The death knell for their friendship was when Lawrence reportedly discovered Oppenheimer was having an affair with Ruth Tolman, the wife of their friend and Caltech scientist Richard Tolman.

The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the chemical element lawrencium are both named for Lawrence. He is played in the movie by Josh Hartnett (“Penny Dreadful,” “Pearl Harbor”).

Lt. Gen. Leslie Groves

The military head of the Manhattan Project, Lt. Gen. Leslie Groves (1896-1970) was tasked with finding a scientist to lead the team in Los Alamos. Groves, who was the son of an Army chaplain, was the consummate military bureaucrat. His skill at building teams landed him in charge of both the construction of the Pentagon and the Manhattan Project during World War II.

On the day the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Groves called Oppenheimer from Washington to congratulate him. “I think one of the wisest things I ever did was when I selected the director of Los Alamos,” Groves said. When Oppenheimer said he wasn’t as sure, Groves replied, “Well, you know I’ve never concurred with those doubts.”

Groves is played by Matt Damon (“The Martian,” “The Last Duel”).

Lewis Strauss

One of the villains of the Oppenheimer story is Lewis Strauss (1896-1974), the chair of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. Oppenheimer and Strauss conflicted in just about every way. While Strauss wanted the U.S. to maintain secrecy about their nuclear arsenal and develop ever more powerful hydrogen bombs, Oppenheimer objected to both. Oppenheimer, who was highly regarded and never afraid to embarrass someone he considered foolish, irritated Strauss constantly.

Strauss got his revenge working with FBI director and professional paranoiac J. Edgar Hoover to look for Soviet sympathies in Oppenheimer’s life, which set into motion the security hearing that would revoke Oppenheimer��s top-secret clearance. Strauss is played by Robert Downey Jr. (“Iron Man,” “Dolittle”).

Richard Feynman

Few men involved with the Manhattan Project had lives as colorful as Richard Feynman (1918-1988). Feynman was not yet 25 when he was recruited to work in Los Alamos — he didn’t even have a graduate degree. But the Queens man with a thick New York accent and a devilish grin was an undeniable genius. He also loved pranks. He was known for sneaking into the facility — something that could have easily gotten him shot — and used to crack safe combinations where his colleagues stored top-secret material.

In 1965, he won the Nobel Prize in Physics, and he became a household name thanks to his bestselling memoir “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!” He is played by Jack Quaid (“The Boys,” “Logan Lucky”).

Robert Serber

Robert Serber (1909-1997) was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan in 1934 when he attended a guest lecture by Oppenheimer. The professor’s brilliance was so unforgettable, Serber packed his bags and transferred immediately to UC Berkeley to study under him. The two became fast, lifelong friends. When Serber was ready for an associate professorship, Oppenheimer advocated for him. Department chair Raymond Birge, however, wrote that “one Jew in the department is enough.” (Oppenheimer was Jewish, as was Serber.)

Serber accompanied Oppenheimer to Los Alamos and was later one of the first Americans to inspect the bomb sites at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He is played by Michael Angarano (“I’m Dying Up Here,” “The Knick”).

Werner Heisenberg

Oppenheimer’s counterpart in Nazi Germany was Werner Heisenberg (1901-1976). As the Manhattan Project was getting off the ground, American scientists feared they were far behind the Nazis’ nuclear program. Luckily for them, Heisenberg was nowhere near the creation of an atomic bomb. Despite being a Nobel Prize winner, Heisenberg never got close to unlocking nuclear fission; when he learned of Hiroshima while in an English prison camp, he expressed astonishment that the Americans could create such a weapon at all.

Heisenberg is played by Matthias Schweighofer (“Hinterland,” “Army of the Dead”).

Frank Oppenheimer

Frank Oppenheimer, the younger brother of Robert, also had his life torn apart by Cold War paranoia. A brilliant scientist in his own right, Frank Oppenheimer (1912-1985) joined the American Communist Party in the 1930s. Although he left it several years later, after the war he was ordered in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee. As a result of the Red Scare fervor, he was forced to resign his teaching job at the University of Minnesota. He moved to a cattle ranch in Colorado. There, he was able to get a job teaching again — at a high school.

In the 1960s, Oppenheimer decided he wanted to open a kid-friendly science museum. He found its home in San Francisco, and there he opened the Exploratorium in 1969. He was a constant presence at the museum until his death in Sausalito in 1985. He is played by Dylan Arnold (“You,” “Halloween”).'

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denimbex1986 · 10 months

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'The one thing you need to know about Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” is that it moves incredibly fast and covers a lot of ground. For most of its three-hour runtime, the atomic bomb epic can feel as if you’re reading a dense biography about J. Robert Oppenheimer at three times the normal speed. With so many scientist characters orbiting Oppenheimer at light speed, you’d be forgiven for feeling a little lost at times.

To help watch “Oppenheimer” with a bit more clarity, it’s important to know the movie takes place during three time periods. One timeline is set in 1954 as the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) holds a security hearing to investigate whether or not Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) is a Soviet spy. The hearing prompts the film to flash back to the events of Oppenheimer’s life, from his university days to his role in creating the atomic bomb. These portions of the film, shot in color, make up the bulk of “Oppenheimer’s” three-hour runtime.

A third storyline is shot in black and white and takes place in 1959 as Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr.), the former chairman of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, is seeking to become U.S. Secretary of Commerce under President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Strauss finds himself at the center of his own U.S. Senate confirmation hearing, which threatens to expose his involvement in the events of the 1954 timeline.

“Oppenheimer” creates its own kind of fission by constantly jumping between these time periods, as characters and events twist depending on the perspective. Whether you want to go into “Oppenheimer” with a bit more knowledge or you’ve just seen it and are wondering who everybody was (it can be hard to keep track given the film’s relentless pace), below is your guide to the film’s cast and the real historical figures they play.

Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer

Cillian Murphy stars as theoretical physicist J Robert Oppenheimer, known as the “father of the atomic bomb.” Oppenheimer was named the director of the Manhattan Project’s Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico. It’s here where Oppenheimer and his team developed the first atomic bomb for World War II. The bomb was detonated on July 16, 1945 in what is referred to as the Trinity test, with Oppenheimer present during the demonstration.

For Murphy, “Oppenheimer” marks his first time leading a Nolan movie in over 20 years. The two worked together on five previous features: Three Batman films, “Inception” and “Dunkirk.” Murphy revealed last year that in prepping to play Oppenheimer he skipped over all the mechanics of what makes an atom bomb and instead focused on the man himself.

“[I prepped by doing] an awful lot of reading,” Murphy recently told The Guardian. “I’m interested in the man and what [inventing the atomic bomb] does to the individual. The mechanics of it, that’s not really for me — I don’t have the intellectual capability to understand them, but these contradictory characters are fascinating.”

Emily Blunt as Katherine "Kitty" Oppenheimer

Emily Blunt stars as Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer, who married J Robert Oppenheimer in 1940. Born in Germany, Kitty was a botanist and biologist whose early life was associated with the Communist party after she became the common-law wife of party member Joseph Dallet Jr. She met Oppenheimer in 1939 at the California Institute of Technology, where he was a part time physics teacher and she was assisting physicist Charles Lauritsen. They began an affair while she was still married to medical doctor Richard Stewart Harrison. Kitty left Harrison and married Oppenheimer in November 1940 after she became pregnant with their first child, Peter. The couple moved to Los Alamos in March 1943 so that Oppenheimer could work full time on his Manhattan Project duties. They had their second child there. The isolation of living in Los Alamos contributed to Kitty’s alcoholism.

Matt Damon as Leslie Groves

Matt Damon plays Leslie Groves, who was the director of the Manhattan Project. The group’s mission was to develop the first atomic bomb during World War II. Groves had previously overseen the construction of the Pentagon while serving as an officer in the United States Army Corps of Engineers. As director of the Manhattan Project, Groves approved Los Alamos, New Mexico as one of several testing sites for the development of the atomic bomb. He personally recruited Oppenheimer to lead the charge at Los Alamos, a divisive choice at the time as Oppenheimer lacked a Nobel Prize and administrative leadership experience. Groves was on site for the detonation of the first atomic bomb on July 16, 1945.

Robert Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss

Robert Downey Jr. plays Lewis Strauss, who served two terms on the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). Strauss was the organization’s chairman during his second term. He became an enemy of Oppenheimer’s due to the AEC’s controversial hearings in April 1954 that led to Oppenheimer’s security clearance being revoked. The hearings came as a result of Strauss becoming convinced that Oppenheimer was a Soviet spy. Strauss became convinced of the fact after Oppenheimer’s claim that the Soviets were four years behind the U.S. in nuclear weapons development got challenged. Strauss eventually asked FBI director J. Edgar Hoover to run surveillance on Oppenheimer, and the organization ran a wiretapping of Oppenheimer’s phones. Illegally-obtained conversations Oppenheimer had over the phone with lawyers and more were used by Strauss to stack the hearing’s odds against Oppenheimer.

Florence Pugh as Jean Tatlock

Florence Pugh stars as Jean Tatlock, who had a relationship with Oppenheimer before and during his marriage to Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer. The two met at the University of California, Berkeley, where Tatlock was a graduate student and Oppenheimer was a physics professor. Tatlock was a member of the American Communist Party. The film shows the two first meeting at a members gathering that Oppenheimer is brought to by his brother, Frank, who also had ties to the American Community Party. Tatlock’s relationship with Oppenheimer was cited during Lewis Strauss’ AEC hearing because of her Communist ties. Tatlock died by suicide at the age of 29 after struggling with clinical depression.

Josh Hartnett as Ernest Lawrence

Ernest Lawrence, played by Josh Hartnett, was a nuclear physicist from Canton, South Dakota who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1939 for his invention of the cyclotron, a particle accelerator that was the first cyclical machine of its kind. When audiences first meet Lawrence in the film, he’s in the process of building that machine at the University of California, Berkeley. It’s here where Lawrence and Oppenheimer became close friends. Lawrence is credited with recommending to Leslie Groves that Oppenheimer be named the director of the Manhattan Project’s Los Alamos research site. Lawrence went on to assist the Manhattan project with uranium-isotope separation.

Casey Affleck as Boris Pash

Boris Pash, played by “Manchester by the Sea” Oscar winner Casey Affleck, was a military intelligence officer in the United States Army. During World War II, Pash was tasked with investigating potential Soviet spy activity within the University of California, Berkley’s radiation laboratory. Oppenheimer was included among those interrogated by Pash, who determined that Oppenheimer was not a Soviet spy but may be connected with the Communist party given his previous relationships (see Jean Tatlock above). Pash suggested Oppenheimer be accompanied by counter-intelligence agents while on site in Los Alamos.

Rami Malek as David Hill

David L. Hill was an associate experimental physicist at the University of Chicago’s Met Lab during the Manhattan Project. Acording to the Atomic Heritage Foundation: “On December 2, 1942, he was one of the 49 scientists who witnessed the world’s first nuclear reactor to go critical.” Hill was also one of 70 scientists and workers to sign the Szilard Petition, a document written by Leo Szilard petitioning President Truman to avoid dropping the atomic bombs on Japan. In the film, Hill pops up in the 1959 timeline to disrupt Lewis Strauss’ bid for U.S. Secretary of Commerce by revealing the devious tactics Strauss used during the AEC hearing that stripped Oppenheimer of his security clearance.

Kenneth Branagh as Niels Bohr

Niels Bohr, played by Christopher Nolan regular Kenneth Branagh, was a physicist from Copenhagen, Denmark who won the Nobel Peace Prize in Physics in 1922 for his work on quantum theory and atomic structure. He is famous for developing the Bohr model of the atom. Whereas the U.S. had the Manhattan Project to develop nuclear weapons, Britain had the Tube Alloys. Bohr was a member of this group and made several visits to the Manhattan Project’s Los Alamos site during the atomic bomb’s design process. He helped Oppenheimer with work on modulated neutron initiators. In the film, Bohr is one of Oppenheimer’s physicist heroes and he attends one of Bohr’s lectures in college.

Benny Safdie as Edward Teller

“Uncut Gems” and “Good Times” co-director Benny Safdie stars as Edward Teller, a theoretical physicist from Budapest who is known as the “father of the hydrogen bomb.” He was included in Oppenheimer’s 1942 summer planning seminar for the Manhattan Project at the University of California, Berkeley, and he moved to the Manahattan Project’s Los Alamos site in 1943 and joined the Theoretical Division, which was overseen by Hans Bethe (played by Gustaf Skarsgård in the movie). As part of the Manhattan Project, Oppenheimer tasked Teller with researching uranium hydride and the mathematics behind a nuclear weapon implosion. He was one of the few scientists on location to watch the detonation of the first atomic bomb during the Trinity test.

Gary Oldman as President Truman

Harry S. Truman, the 33rd president of the United States, is played in “Oppenheimer” by Oscar winner Gary Oldman, whom Nolan worked with on the “Dark Knight” trilogy. The Manhattan Project started in 1942 under Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency. Truman served as his vice president and was notoriously not told about the Manhattan Project until he became president himself. As president, Truman authorized the first and only use of nuclear weapons in war against Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. The bombs were dropped on August 6 and August 9, 1945. In the film, Truman assures Oppenheimer that the world will only see the president as a villain of history for dropping the bombs and not their maker himself.

David Krumholtz as Isidor Isaac Rabi

“Harold & Kumar” and “The Santa Clause” actor David Krumholtz stars as Isidor Isaac Rabi, an American physicist who won the 1944 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of nuclear magnetic resonance. His work on radar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Radiation Laboratory led him to be a consultant on the Manhattan Project. Rabi was called to testify at the AEC security hearing in 1954 and strongly defended Oppenheimer. In the film, Rabi is heard passionately telling the AEC board that Oppenheimer loved and defended his country through his actions in the Manhattan Project.

Matthew Modine as Vannevar Bush

“Stranger Things” star Matthew Modine reunites with Christopher Nolan after “The Dark Knight Rises” to play Vannevar Bush in “Oppenheimer.” Bush was an American engineer who headed the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development during World War II. He helped sell the U.S. government on creating the Manhattan Project. Later during World War II, he joined the Interim Committee that advised president Harry S. Truman on nuclear weapons. Bush was present at the Trinity test and watched the detonation of the first atomic bomb.

David Dastmalchian as William L. Borden

Nolan regular David Dastmalchian plays William L. Borden, who served as the executive director of the United States Congress Joint Committee on Atomic Energy from 1949 to 1953. He is best known for writing a letter to FBI director J. Edgar Hoover that accused Oppenheimer of being a Soviet spy, which then led to the Atomic Energy Commission’s security hearing in 1954. The film positions Borden as a puppet of Lewis Strauss, as Strauss wanted to keep his hands dry in Oppenheimer’s public downfall. Borden went on to testify against Oppenheimer during the hearings.

Michael Angarano as Robert Serber

Michael Angarano stars as Robert Serber, an American physicist who contributed to the Manhattan Project. He previously had worked for Oppenheimer at the University of California, Berkeley and the California Institute of Technology before he was recruited to join the Manhattan Project in 1941. Serber was also involved with a section of the Manhattan Project known as Project Alberta, which aided in the delivery of nuclear weapons during the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Jack Quaid as Richard Feynman

“The Boys” star Jack Quaid plays Richard Feynman, a theoretical physicist from New York City who shared the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics with Julian Schwinger and Shin’ichirō Tomonaga for work on quantum physics. Feynman joined the Manhattan Project’s Los Alamos operation and was made group leader of Hans Bethe’s Theoretical Division, where he developed the Bethe–Feynman formula for calculating the yield of a fission bomb.

Josh Peck as Kenneth Bainbridge

Former “Drake and Josh” Nickelodeon star Josh Peck plays Kenneth Bainbridge, an American physicist known for his work on cyclotron research at Harvard University. Oppenheimer appointed him the director of the Trinity test. The demonstration was the first time an atomic bomb was detonated and took place July 16, 1945. In the film, it is Bainbridge who acts on Oppenheimer’s order to press the button to detonate the bomb. He allegedly told Oppenheimer after the atomic bomb’s first detonation, “Now we are all sons of bitches.” After witnessing the Trinity test, Bainbridge turned against the testing of nuclear weapons.

Olivia Thirlby as Lilli Hornig

Olivia Thirlby, best known for performances in “Juno” and “Dredd 3D,” stars as Lilli Hornig, a feminist activist and scientist who joined the Manhattan Project efforts. Lilli and her husband, chemist and explosives expert Bruce Hornig, moved to Los Alamos together to work for Oppenheimer. She became a staff scientist for the Manhattan Project.

Dane DeHaan as Kenneth Nichols

Dane DeHaan stars as Kenneth Nichols, a United States Army office from Cleveland, Ohio who worked on the Manhattan Project as a civil engineer. He later oversaw the production of plutonium as the head of the Manhattan Engineer District. Nichols eventually joined the Atomic Energy Commission in 1953 as a general manager and was involved in the security hearing against Oppenheimer. He believed Oppenheimer was a Communist and ruled in favor of stripping Oppenheimer of his AEC security clearance. The film positions Nichols as a mole who encouraged William L. Borden to report Oppenheimer’s alleged Soviet ties to the FBI.

Jason Clarke as Roger Robb

Jason Clarke plays Roger Robb, a United States circuit judge who joined the Atomic Energy Commission as special counsel during the security hearing against Oppenheimer in 1954. The hearing lasted four weeks as Robb and a panel of AEC members interrogated Oppenheimer on the grounds that he was a Soviet spy. Robb was convinced Oppenheimer was a traitor and used dramatic interrogation methods during the hearing to make Oppenheimer appear as guilty as possible. Robb was known for his ruthless tactics. The board voted to strip Oppenheimer of his security clearance.

James D'Arcy as Patrick Blackett

“Cloud Atlas” star James D’Arcy plays Patrick Blackett, an experimental physicist who won the 1948 Nobel Prize in Physics. He is notable in the science community for being the first person to prove that radioactivity can lead to the nuclear transmutation of one chemical element to another. Oppenheimer was one of his most notable students. Early in the film, it’s implied that Blackett was a harsh teacher who did not favor Oppenheimer. He tells Oppenheimer to stay behind while the class attends a lecture by Niels Bohr. A mentally unstable Oppenheimer injects cyanide into an apple on Blackett’s desk. Oppenheimer ultimately gets rid of the apple before Blackett can eat it.

Tony Goldwyn as Gordon Gray

Tony Goldwyn goes from playing the president on ABC’s “Scandal” to starring as Gordon Gray in “Oppenheimer.” Gray was an American attorney and national security government official during Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower’s presidential administrations. He was one of the leading members on the AEC committee during the security hearing against Oppenheimer. The film implies that Gray was against Oppenheimer from the start. Convinced Oppenheimer was a Soviet spy, Gray worked with Roger Robb to ensure the outcome of the AEC hearing was not in Oppenheimer’s favor.

Tom Conti as Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein won the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics and is regarded as the most influential theoretical physicist in history. He pops up throughout “Oppenheimer” as he was friendly with the title character. In real life, Einstein did not work on the Manhattan Project. However, he did join forces with colleagues such as Leó Szilárd, Edward Teller and Eugene Wigner to worn the U.S. government that Germany would win an atomic bomb race if the U.S. did not start getting plans together to create such a weapon. The group wrote a letter to President Roosevelt, which is credited with pushing the U.S. towards the creation of the Manhattan Project.

Alex Wolff as Luis Walter Alvarez

“Hereditary” star Alex Wolff plays Luis Walter Alvarez, who won the 1968 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on particle physics used in the hydrogen bubble chamber. He was a friend and close colleague of Ernest Lawrence (Josh Hartnett, see above) in the research labs at the University of California, Berkeley. It’s here where Lawrence created the cyclotron, which Alvarez used to produce and study tritium. In the film, Alvarez is with Lawrence and Oppenheimer when they get the news that an atom has been split open for the first time. In real life, Alvarez traveled to Los Alamos and worked on the Manhattan Project.

Dylan Arnold as Frank Oppenheimer

Dylan Arnold stars as Oppenheimer’s brother, Frank. A particle physicist in his own right, Frank conducted research on behalf of the Manhattan Project and was called to Los Alamos by his brother to help prepare the layout and designs for the Trinity test. Frank is most important to Oppenheimer’s story because he was a member of the American Communist Party and invited his brother to attend party gatherings before the Manhattan Project was founded. Oppenheimer’s ties to his brother and more party members put him under scrutiny during the AEC security hearing.

Jefferson Hall as Haakon Chevalier

Haakon Chevalier, played by “Game of Thrones” actor Jefferson Hall, was a French professor at the University of California, Berkeley who became friends with Oppenheimer in 1937. In the film, Oppenheimer befriends Chevalier at a Communist party. The two went on to create the university’s teachers’ union, which angered some of Oppenheimer’s scientist colleagues as the union threw benefits in support of leftist causes. Their friendship was one of the defining parts of the AEC security hearing, as Chevalier told Oppenheimer about Soviet attempts to infiltrate the Manhattan Project. Oppenheimer belatedly reported the information as to protect Chevalier’s identity, which the AEC hearing committee used in favor of stripping Oppenheimer of his security clearance.

Matthias Schweighöfer as Werner Heisenberg

Matthias Schweighöfer, best known for his role in Zack Snyder’s “Army of the Dead” franchise, appears briefly as Werner Heisenberg, the German theoretical physicist who won the 1932 Nobel Prize in Physics for the creation of quantum mechanics. Oppenheimer idolizes Heisenberg in the film and even has a brief visit with him before World War II begins. Heisenberg was not involved in the Manhattan Project and instead worked on Germany’s nuclear weapons program during the war. Knowing how brilliant Heisenberg was and how his genius could aid in Germany’s creation of atomic weapons is part of the reason Oppenheimer needed to move so quickly with the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos.'

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