Oppenheimer’s Look Was Inspired by David Bowie’s Thin White Duke

The wardrobe of Cillian Murphy’s “Father of the atomic bomb” was partially inspired by David Bowie’s persona Thin White Duke.

In an interview with MTV Movies, Murphy explained how they brought Robert Oppenheimer to life with elements borrowed from the Thin White Duke. “Chris sent me a couple of shots of David Bowie, certain periods in David Bowie’s career, like Thin White Duke and around Young Americans time,” said the actor. “We worked very closely with our costume designer to design the clothes. And particularly, I wanted to get his silhouette. He was very fragile, he was very, very slim and I wanted to get that silhouette right.”

Bowie played the character from 1975 to 1976 at the peak of his drug use while living in Los Angeles. The Duke, who wore a white shirt, black trousers, and a waistcoat represents agony and neo-romantism. Bowie initially begun to adopt aspects of the persona during his Young Americans tour in the late 1974. The look and the character were influenced by Thomas Jerome Newton, a Humanoid alien Bowie played in the film The Man Who Fell to Earth.

“He had these massive trousers and he was so emancipated but so fucking cool, so we used that, weirdly, for some of Oppenheimer’s trousers,” Murphy added.