"American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer"
From Pulitzer Prize to Star-Studded Blockbuster
[First Published: August 5, 2022]
Adaptations. We previously discussed the ease with which Hollywood can do it but the difficulty of doing it well. As director Christopher Nolan (Inception, The Dark Knight trilogy, Interstellar, to name a few) finalizes Oppenheimer, a film expected to release July 21, 2023, I found myself interested in learning more about the source material for the project.
Based on American Prometheus, a 725-page biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, Nolan’s film charts the theoretical physicist’s role in the Manhattan Project. The book, which won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize, is a blockbuster in its own right. The two accomplished Cold War historians came together to tell Oppenheimer’s poignant and extraordinary story. They reveal the complexity of a man whose Jewishness was expressed through secular humanism, who was notable for his ethical sense and erudition yet played a leading role in bringing weapons of mass slaughter into existence. Oppenheimer's fears that this achievement would ruin the world led him to urge international control of atomic energy, which, along with his espousal of left-wing causes during the tumultuous 1930s, led him to become the most celebrated victim of the anticommunist paranoia of the 1950s. The authors convey how these issues appeared to Oppenheimer at the time and describe his interaction with the remarkable figures with whom he was in regular contact – George Kennan, David Lilienthal, Isidor Rabi, and the antihero Lewis Strauss. The background political context is not fully explored, but this is a minor complaint. Bird and Sherwin have undertaken a daunting amount of research, and they do full justice to the complexity of Oppenheimer's story.
Amid such voluminous scholarship, how can Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin's American Prometheus purport to be "the first full-scale biography"? The reason, beyond its having the best title, is its span. Oppenheimer's life has often been studied in fragments: scientific, historical, political, moral, and personal. These authors compile all of it under a single roof.
Their book has a such range that it connects a trauma that 14-year-old Robert experienced at summer camp with the self-destructive stoicism he would eventually demonstrate on the witness stand. American Prometheus is a work of voluminous scholarship and lucid insight, unifying its multifaceted portrait with a keen grasp of Oppenheimer's essential nature. What did he do upon finding himself in a Capitol Hill elevator with Senator Joseph McCarthy, the embodiment of Oppenheimer's comeuppance? "We looked at each other," the physicist told a friend, "and I winked."
American Prometheus sees the full implications of such a gesture: charm and bravado on the surface, Dostoyevskian darkness underneath. It traces Oppenheimer's arrogance to the upbringing that would give him his sloop at age 16 and lead one of the oral examiners of his doctoral thesis to say: "I got out of there just in time. He was beginning to ask me questions."
While its forte is not physics, the book captures the world in which Oppenheimer established his credentials: thick with future Nobelists, bristling with innovation and competitiveness. From this crucible, Oppenheimer emerged with the leadership capabilities that would eventually place him in charge of top-secret research into the creation of nuclear weapons. This book examines his effect upon acolytes and his combustible, martini-marinated mixture of charisma and cruelty.
American Prometheus aligns its subject's most critical decisions with his early education and ultimate unraveling. It succeeds in deeply fathoming his most damaging, self-contradictory behavior through a thorough examination and synthesis, sometimes overwhelming in its detail. And yet, the lengthy read is well worth your time.
Nolan’s film adaptation is his first biopic and the first film since 2000’s Memento not to be distributed by Warner Bros., glued together by a cast that feels most analogous to an Avengers of Hollywood heavyweights.
Beyond the all-star lineup, Oppenheimer’s subject matter has the scope and weight we have come to expect with Nolan’s work. Cillian Murphy, a frequent collaborator with Nolan on films like Batman Begins and Dunkirk, has the lead role of Oppenheimer. Emily Blunt joins him as wife Katherine ‘Kitty’ Oppenheimer, Matt Damon as Army Corps of Engineers overseer Leslie Groves, Robert Downey Jr. as Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Lewis Strauss, and Florence Pugh as Jean Tatlock, a member of the Communist Party in the U.S. who had a romantic relationship with Oppenheimer.
Other cast members include Benny Safdie as physicist Edward Teller, Josh Hartnett as physicist Ernest Lawrence, Matthew Modine as OSRD leader Vannevar Bush, Dylan Arnold as Robert’s younger brother Frank Oppenheimer and Michael Angarano as Robert Serber.
The list of unknown roles includes, brace yourself, Rami Malek, Gary Oldman, Casey Affleck, Jack Quaid, Kenneth Branagh, Josh Peck, David Dastmalchian, Alex Wolff, Jason Clarke, Louise Lombard, Scott Grimes, Christopher Denham, James D’Arcy, David Rysdahl, Guy Burnet, Danny Deferrari, Harrison Gilbertson, Emma Dumont, Matthias Schweighöfer, Gustaf Skarsgard, Devon Bostick, and Tony Goldwyn.
Oppenheimer is scheduled to be released exclusively in cinemas on July 21, 2023.