My memory is failing. I know that there were a couple back in the 80s but, not counting others about the broader subject of the Manhattan Project, what others were about Oppenheimer?
There was the BBC Oppenheimer with David Staithern (sp?) about ten years ago. That may have been the definitive portrayal of “Oppie”, even better than Sam Waterston in the 80s. Straithern has that brooding intellectual character nailed.
Then you can toss in Oppie appearances like the fictional Manhattan Project movie from five or so years ago.
Really what more can anyone bring to the role or history? We have seen the pure history, factionalized versions, moral and ethical issues, his marital troubles, his government career, his blackballing in the McCarthy area, on and on all covered.
Good luck to Nolan in his attempt to bring something new or original. The actor playing Oppie has a near impossible job. He likely will come off as a mimic of past actors who did the job. Hell, give someone the hat, the haircut, the thin profile, and the intellectual stare and who would not see Oppie?
Seriously, who among us could not write the script? The marriage and lefty politics, Groves and the frictions over the Manhattan project, the Bagavagida quote, the McCarthy mess, the ethical torment over the use of the bomb after Germany surrenders. Good grief.
