Every epic film starts with an epic story. And they don't get any bigger than the man who developed and helped deploy the world's first atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer. From the moment Film Director Christopher Nolan read a Pulitzer Prize winning biography about the leader of the Manhattan Project laboratory, he wanted to tell his story. Oppenheimer is exceeding box office expectations. The film excavates the life of a complicated man who was once the most respected scientist in the world, but got caught up in the McCarthy Era anti-communist hysteria and died humiliated and discredited. The film is inspired by American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Martin Sherwin and Kai Bird. We'll talk to Kai Bird about the man, the movie and the legacy of J Robert Oppenheimer.
American Prometheus book cover Photo: supplied
