Oppenheimer  Reel vs Real

25 JULY, 2023

Debodinna Chakraborty

Photo: IMDb

Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, a highly charged film with an exceptional ensemble cast, has already made a big impact on the box office and is looking to be crowned as one of Nolan’s best yet.

NOLAN'S BEST YET?

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The ensemble cast play characters who actually changed the course of the world with the atomic bomb. Here's a look at some cast members and their real-life counterparts.

BEYOND THE SCREEN

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Cillian Murphy shines as J Robert Oppenheimer in Nolan's film. he talked about portraying the "father of the atomic bomb" and the responsibility that comes with it.

1. Cillian murphy as oppenheimer

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Emily Blunt plays Katherine "Kitty" Oppenheimer, wife of J Robert Oppenheimer, who she accompanies to Los Alamos, New Mexico, for the Manhattan Project.

2. Emily blunt as Katherine oppenheimer

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Matt Damon portrays Army Corps Engineers officer Lt General Leslie Groves, who led the Manhattan Project under the Pentagon's instruction during World War II. 

3. MATT DAMON AS LT GENERAL LESLIE GROVES

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Lewis Strauss, portrayed by Robert Downey Jr, collaborated with Oppenheimer on the bomb's development, but later urged an FBI investigation on Oppenheimer. 

4. RObert Downey JR as Lewis strauss

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Florence Pugh portrays Jean Tatlock, Oppenheimer's mistress, whose ties to the Communist Party jeopardised the physicist's position during the political investigations.

5. FLorence pugh as jean tatlock

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Casey Affleck stars as a military intel officer, Boris Pash who was  tasked with interrogating Oppenheimer and others for Communist Party ties. 

6. casey affleck as boris pash

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Kenneth Branagh portrays Niels Bohr, a genius in quantum physics who backed Oppenheimer's Manhattan Project, sharing the aspiration for nuclear progress.

7. kenneth barnagh as neils bohr

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Gary Oldman’s role is limited to one scene in the film, where he portrays President Truman, who ordered the use of atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

8. GAry oldman as president truman

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Jason Clarke plays US attorney Roger Robb, who prosecuted Oppenheimer's security clearance hearing in 1954.

9. jason clarke as roger robb

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Scottish actor Tom Conti plays Einstein, the famous physicist and a resident scholar at Princeton's Institute for Advanced Research, where Oppenheimer was director.

10. tom conti as albert einstein