Robert Downey Jr. is a shoo-in to take home a trophy at the Oscars this year. After winning awards at the Golden Globes, the BAFTAs, the Critics Choice Awards, and the Screen Actors Guild Awards, Downey Jr. will very likely earn the Academy's Best Supporting Actor honor this Sunday. The Oppenheimer star does have some stiff competition from Mark Ruffalo (Poor Things) and Ryan Gosling (Barbie), but Oppenheimer sweep is seemingly upon us.
Starring as Lewis Strauss, the former Marvel actor plays opposite Cillian Murphy's J. Robert Oppenheimer, as one of the original members of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) in 1946. The character's main arc begins late in Oppenheimer, after the creation of the nuclear bomb and the end of WWII. Oppenheimer grows remorseful over his part in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of lives in Hiroshima and Nagasaki—and he urges President Henry S. Truman (Gary Oldman) to cease any further nuclear testing. Meanwhile, the Truman-appointed Strauss (Downey Jr.) begins to advocate for the development of the hydrogen bomb—an even more powerful thermonuclear weapon.
Tensions rise as the Cold War arms race ramps up. Oppenheimer meets with Albert Einstein, who warns him about the potential for nuclear holocaust. This meeting "wasn't historical," according to Oppenheimer's grandson, Charles Oppenheimer. Still, he told Time, "Einstein's conversation with Oppenheimer at the end was really effective." Strauss believes that Oppenheimer may badmouthed have badmouthed him during this conversation, however. This partially leads him to become a major player in Oppenheimer's controversial security hearings in 1954.
Oppenheimer and Strauss go from friends to enemies throughout the film.
Taking up most of the third act of Oppenheimer, Strauss levies attack after attack at the hearings—aiming directly at Oppenheimer. He was reportedly offended by Oppenheimer's relationship with former communist Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh), and even harbored resentment that Oppenheimer never joined him as a prominent figure of major Jewish organizations in Washington (though this aspect of Strauss's character was largely left out of the latest Nolan film). Strauss also has then-FBI director J. Edgar Hoover put Oppenheimer under surveillance, which included illegal wiretappings.
"I had a previous fair understanding of Strauss because I was fascinated with the mechanics of warfare, particularly in the Pacific theater in World War II," Downey Jr. told Vulture. "I challenged a little bit the Mozart-Salieri of it all. I said, I’m not sure in some ways that Strauss isn’t a bit the hero here, which kind of raised an eyebrow on Chris [Nolan]. I half-jokingly challenged him on whether Admiral Strauss hadn’t done everything that any patriotic American would’ve done. And he said, Well, this will be a wonderful ongoing dialogue. So, will you do the film? And he’s Chris Nolan, so he’s not asking your fricking agent."
In the end, Strauss ensured that Oppenheimer's security clearances are revoked—simply to embarrass him. The hearing ended just a day before the clearances were set to expire regardless, and his status in the public eye as a "hero" or a "villain" in the hearings varied. A little full of himself, Strauss eventually overstated that he was actually the one who convinced Truman to pursue the H-bomb—which frustrated Truman. The former President leaked a letter to the press outlining his anger at Strauss, which led to the failure of the AEC chairman's Senate confirmation hearing to become the Secretary of Commerce. The defeat effectively ended Strauss's political career.
FAQs
Angered by Oppenheimer's opposition to developing powerful hydrogen bombs, skeptical of his patriotism and bitter over their personal differences, Strauss worked to undermine the famous scientist, helping arrange a hearing in which Oppenheimer would be forced to testify about his close relationships with several ...
What did Oppenheimer say to Einstein about Strauss? ›
Oppenheimer and Einstein's conversation in the movie was not about Lewis Strauss, contrary to his paranoid belief. They were discussing the consequences of creating the atomic bomb and the potential destruction it could cause.
Why did Oppenheimer oppose the hydrogen bomb? ›
Oppenheimer worried that a hydrogen bomb – with an explosive force 1,000 times greater than an atomic bomb – would be far more devastating. This refusal made Oppenheimer political enemies. That, coupled with the strong anti-Communist sentiments tied to the McCarthyism of the era, made Oppenheimer a target.
What is the history of Oppenheimer? ›
Oppenheimer is most remembered as the “father of the atomic bomb” and was the physicist in charge of the Manhattan Project, the name given to the top-secret project that developed the weapons the United States used to devastate the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
Did Teller betray Oppenheimer? ›
At Oppenheimer's hearings, Teller testified that "I feel I would prefer to see the vital interests of this country in hands that I understand better and therefore trust more." The testimony enraged many in the scientific community, who felt it was a terrible betrayal of the hardworking and loyal Oppenheimer.
Why was Oppenheimer a good leader? ›
Oppenheimer was a brilliant leader of Los Alamos. He had an unusually quick mind, understand- ing any new fact immediately and assimilating it in the overall picture of the project.
Why did Einstein dislike Oppenheimer? ›
But Oppenheimer saw Einstein as kind of the old guard." Einstein once wrote that he didn't believe in quantum physics, which would become Oppenheimer's field of study. The younger scientist later called Einstein "completely cuckoo."
Who was smarter, Oppenheimer or Einstein? ›
Summary. Oppenheimer's IQ of 135 places him in the 99th percentile of intelligence, while Einstein's estimated IQ is 160, in the genius category.
What did Einstein tell Oppenheimer at the end? ›
Would history have played out in the same way? In the final scene, Oppenheimer asks him: “When I came to you with those calculations, we thought we might start a chain reaction that would destroy the entire world”, to which Einstein replies: “I remember it well. What of it?”. Oppenheimer replies; “I believe we did.”
Did Einstein help Oppenheimer? ›
Though Einstein didn't help build the nuclear bomb and has just a few scenes in Oppenheimer, they pack a punch—and reflect the two physicists' real-life dynamic. There's a gutting scene midway through Oppenheimer that finds Cillian Murphy's J. Robert Oppenheimer at one of his lowest moments.
Oppenheimer, starring Cillian Murphy as the “father” of the nuclear bomb, was also criticised by anti-nuclear groups for failing to depict the true horror of the devastation the bombs caused in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Why was Oppenheimer so skinny? ›
Cillian Murphy went to extreme lengths to lose weight for his role in "Oppenheimer." The Irish actor plays the creator of the atom bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer, in the movie. His costars say he only ate "like, an almond every day" and looked "emaciated."
What happened to Strauss after Oppenheimer? ›
In 1959, after two months of hearings, the Senate rejected his nomination to be Secretary of Commerce, a humiliating defeat for Strauss. In later life he moved back into philanthropic ventures, and he died, aged 78, in 1974.
What race was Oppenheimer? ›
Oppenheimer was born on April 22, 1904 to a wealthy German-Jewish couple, Julius and Ella Oppenheimer, and grew up on Riverside Drive in Manhattan (Bird & Sherwin, 2005, pp. 9-11).
Will Oppenheimer be historically accurate? ›
Robert Oppenheimer was an immensely complex figure, and the movie's based on a biography of him. While the movie is historically accurate in many ways, there are a few bits of fiction mixed in.
Who is the villain in Oppenheimer? ›
Amateurs seek the sun...get eaten. Power stays in the shadows. Strauss's most famous quote. Admiral Lewis Lichtenstein Strauss is the main antagonist of the 2023 epic biographical thriller film Oppenheimer, based on the life of the late American physicist J.
What happened to Oppenheimer's children? ›
Soon after his father died, Peter permanently moved to northern New Mexico to live at a residence his father had purchased years earlier, the Perro Caliente ranch, according to the AHF. According to the AHF, Peter still lives in New Mexico working as a carpenter and has three children: Dorothy, Charles and Ella.
Why didn t Oppenheimer get a Nobel Prize? ›
Despite his early work on what would later become known as black holes, J. Robert Oppenheimer never won a Nobel Prize. In part, it may have been because the "father of the atomic bomb" lacked the focus of some of his colleagues and constantly moved from topic to topic.
What was the cause of death of Robert Oppenheimer? ›
Oppenheimer died of throat cancer on February 18, 1967.
