Oppenheimer's Grandson Reflects On Meeting Christopher Nolan And The One Thing He Wishes The Movie Had Done Differently
There's one part of Oppenheimer that the title character's grandson would change.
Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is one of the filmmaker’s biggest successes. The movie is a box office hit, despite it getting stiff competition from Barbie. And the film is already being considered a strong contender in this year’s awards races. It seems everybody loves the film, and that includes the family of J. Robert Oppenheimer. The title character’s grandson loves the film, though he admits he could have done without one controversial scene.
It has to be a bit strange to be watching a biopic that includes your grandfather as its main character. Such was the case for Charles Oppenheimer, grandson of the character played by Cillian Murphy in Christopher Nolan’s new movie. The grandson tells Time that he actually met with Christopher Nolan on the set of the movie. But he was bracing himself for not liking the film, if for no other reason than he knew he would take it personally. Although in the end it seems he mostly liked the movie. He explained…
Of course, in a three-hour film that you know you’re going to take personally, there are going to be parts that you don’t like as much as others. For Charles Oppenheimer, there was one scene that he particularly didn’t care for. Early in the film is a scene where Oppenheimer poisons an apple in an apparent attempt to kill one of his teachers. He ultimately has regrets and prevents anything from happening, but the issue for Oppenheimer the younger is that there is significant doubt the incident ever happened. He continued…
Certainly, the moment doesn’t necessarily paint J. Robert Oppenheimer in the best light, and nobody wants to see their family member that way. Oppenheimer is already a controversial figure for so many reasons. But as Charles Oppenheimer says, it’s far from confirmed that the event actually happened. For that reason the grandson says that if it had been up to him, he would not have included the scene at all, but he ultimately defers to the expert, saying…
All movies based on true stories distort reality in one way or another. Even with the potentially questionable scene, it appears that at least one member of J. Robert Oppenehimer’s family handled its subject matter well. Audiences certainly seem to agree based on the movie’s box office. The only question remaining is how the various awards will respond to Christopher Nolan and Oppenheimer.
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CinemaBlend’s resident theme park junkie and amateur Disney historian, Dirk began writing for CinemaBlend as a freelancer in 2015 before joining the site full-time in 2018. He has previously held positions as a Staff Writer and Games Editor, but has more recently transformed his true passion into his job as the head of the site's Theme Park section. He has previously done freelance work for various gaming and technology sites. Prior to starting his second career as a writer he worked for 12 years in sales for various companies within the consumer electronics industry. He has a degree in political science from the University of California, Davis. Is an armchair Imagineer, Epcot Stan, Future Club 33 Member.