Oppenheimer’s Grandson Calls Out Poison Apple Scene in Christopher Nolan Film: “It’s Historical Revision”
There’s no doubt that Robert Oppenheimer is a complex character. While the Christopher Nolan’s film largely captured the historical truth, a few details about the character may have been purely dramatised. In an interview with TIME, Oppenheimer’s grandson Charles discussed the “inaccurate” and dramatised depiction of his grandfather, which he would have left out from the film.
“The part I like the least is this poison apple reference, which was a problem in American Prometheus. If you read American Prometheus carefully enough, the authors say, ‘We don’t really know if it happened.‘ There’s no record of him trying to kill somebody. That’s a really serious accusation and it’s historical revision. There’s not a single enemy or friend of Robert Oppenheimer who heard that during his life and considered it to be true,” said Charles.
In the film, viewers were shown a scene where Robert Oppenheimer injected poison into an apple that was intended for his professor. He then changed his heart and tossed the apple away. However, there’s no historical record of it ever happened.
“American Prometheus got it from some references talking about a spring break trip, and all the original reporters of that story — there was only two maybe three — reported that they didn’t know what Robert Oppenheimer was talking about. Unfortunately, American Prometheus summarises that as Robert Oppenheimer tried to kill his teacher and then they [acknowledge that] maybe there’s this doubt,” added Charles.
He also felt like it wasn’t his place to influence Nolan, and therefore didn’t act as a consultant or the film and left the creative freedom to Nolan. The apple scene might have been his least favourite, but it wasn’t the only one.
“One time I visited the set in New Mexico. I saw them film and, in that particular scene, Cillian Murphy walks into a room and part of his line was calling someone an ‘asshole.’ And when I went back to Santa Fe and told my dad, he was horrified. He said, ‘Robert Oppenheimer never swore. He was such a formal person. He would never, ever do that.’ And I was like, ‘Well, it’s a dramatisation.’ But I was worried that in the movie he would be this swearing, abusive guy. Anyway, I think he said one swear word in the movie and I just happened to be in the room. So there is a chance that if we had been consultants, we could have added some details and depth. But there’s such a complete record. It was enough for Nolan to tell the story he intended to.“
