Oppenheimer

A VAST SPHERE OF FIRE, the fire of a thousand suns, slowly

eats the night-time desert. A line of black type appears:

PROMETHEUS STOLE FIRE FROM THE GODS AND GAVE IT TO MAN.

And the sound of DOZENS OF FEET STAMPING RHYTHMICALLY...

FOR THIS HE WAS CHAINED TO A ROCK AND TORTURED FOR ETERNITY.

ROILING PLASMA expands, the sound of STAMPING GROWS

OPPRESSIVE, the STAMPING FASTER and FASTER OVERA

FACE. Gaunt, tense, EYES TIGHTLY SHUT. The face SHUDDERSthe

sound CEASES AS MY EYES OPEN, STARING INTO THE CAMERA:

Peer into my soul- J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER, aged fifty, closecropped

greying hair. The gentle sounds of bureaucracy...

SUPER TITLE:
"1. FISSION"

VOICE (O.S.)

Dr Oppenheimer, as we begin, I

believe you have a statement to

read into the record?

I glance down at my notes.

OPPENHEIMER:

Yes, your honour-

SECOND VOICE (O.S.)

We’re not judges, doctor.

OPPENHEIMER:

No. Of course.

(I start reading)

Members of the Security Board, the

so-called derogatory information in

your indictment of me cannot be

fairly understood except in the

context of my life and work. This

answer is a summary of relevant

aspects of my life in more or less

chronological order...

SENATE AIDE (V.O.)

How long did he testify?

CUT TO:

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

Gadget 2023-04-21 FINAL Shooting Script 2.

INT. SENATE OFFICE -- DAY (BLACK-AND-WHITE SEQUENCE)

CLOSE:
on a prosperous sixty-three-year-old man, LEWIS

STRAUSS, as he takes a cup of coffee from a SENATE AIDE...

SUPER TITLE:
"2. FUSION"

STRAUSS:

I forget. Three days, or so. The

whole hearing took a month.

SENATE AIDE:

An ordeal.

STRAUSS:

I’ve only read the transcripts, but

who’d want to justify their whole

life?

SENATE AIDE:

You weren’t there?

STRAUSS:

As Chairman, I wasn’t allowed to

be. Are they really going to ask

about it? It was years ago.

SENATE AIDE:

Four years ago. Oppenheimer still

divides America- the committee will

want to know where you stood.

(checks his watch)

Ready?

INT. CORRIDOR, SENATE BUILDING -- MOMENTS LATER (B&W)

The Senate Aide leads Strauss along the corridor.

SENATE AIDE:

Senator Thurmond asked me to say

not to feel you’re on trial.

STRAUSS:

I didn’t, till you said that.

SENATE AIDE:

Really, Mr Strauss- STRAUSS (CONT’D)

Admiral.

SENATE AIDE (CONT’D)

Admiral Strauss, this is a

formality.

SENATE AIDE (CONT’D)

(CONTINUED)

Gadget 2023-04-21 FINAL Shooting Script 3.

President Eisenhower’s asked you to

be in his cabinet, the Senate has

no choice but to confirm you.

They arrive at the door.

STRAUSS:

And if they bring up Oppenheimer?

SENATE AIDE:

When they bring up Oppenheimer,

answer honestly and no senator can

deny that you did your duty. It’ll

be uncomfortable...

(smiles)

Who’d want to justify their whole

life?

The door to the VAST committee room opens- they enter,

FLASHBULBS POPPING as PRESS and PUBLIC see Strauss.

ROBB (V.O.)

Why did you leave the United

States?

CUT TO:

INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -- DAY (COLOUR)

The room is SMALL, SHABBY. Surprised, I look up from my

statement at the prosecutor, Roger ROBB. Then turn to the

THREE BOARD MEMBERS (GRAY, EVANS, MORGAN).

OPPENHEIMER:

I wanted to learn the new physics.

GRAY:

Was there nowhere here? I thought

Berkeley had the leading

theoretical physics department-

OPPENHEIMER:

Sure. Once I built it. First I had

to go to Europe. I went to

Cambridge to work under Patrick

Blackett.

ROBB:

Were you happier there than in

America?

Gadget 2023-04-21 FINAL Shooting Script 4.

INSERT CUT:
A YOUNG ME (TWENTY-ONE) LIES IN BED STARING UP,

CRYING... PARTICLES WITH THE VASTNESS OF THE STARS MOVE LIKE

FIREFLIES...

OPPENHEIMER:

No. I was homesick. Emotionally

immature... troubled by visions of

a hidden universe...

INT. LABORATORY, CAMBRIDGE -- DAY

The young ME, frazzled demeanor, STRUGGLES with equipment.

OPPENHEIMER (V.O.)

...useless in the lab.

I drop a beaker, it SHATTERS. PATRICK BLACKETT looks over,

FROWNING. He picks up an APPLE and takes a LARGE BITE.

BLACKETT:

(through apple)

Christ, Oppenheimer, have you had

any sleep? Start again.

YOUNG OPPENHEIMER

I need to go to the lecture.

BLACKETT:

Why?

YOUNG OPPENHEIMER

(pleading)

It’s Niels Bohr.

Blackett checks his watch- starts packing up-

BLACKETT:

Damn, completely forgot. Let’s go.

I start to pack up with the other students.

BLACKETT (CONT’D)

Not you. Finish coating those

plates.

I clean up as Blackett and the other students leave- one

leaves an APPLE for Blackett- GREEN WITH STEM AND TINY LEAF.

I pause at a bottle: "Potassium Cyanide"... CLUMSY HANDS

SHAKING, I draw CYANIDE into a syringe. I INJECT the apple...

Gadget 2023-04-21 FINAL Shooting Script 5.

EXT. QUADRANGLE, CAMBRIDGE -- EVENING

I HURRY across the quad. A lonely figure.

BOHR (V.O.)

Quantum physics isn’t a step

forward...

INT. LECTURE HALL, CAMBRIDGE -- CONTINUOUS

I sneak into the back of the auditorium. Standing,

SPELLBOUND, as NIELS BOHR, a charismatic Dane, lectures.

BOHR:

...It’s a new way to understand

reality. Einstein’s opened a door,

now we’re peering through, seeing a

world inside our world... a world

of energy and paradox that not

everyone can accept.

I RAISE my hand to ask a question...

CUT TO:

INT. SENATE COMMITTEE HEARING ROOM -- DAY (B&W)

Strauss sits facing the Committee, COUNSEL beside him, PRESS,

CAMERAS and PUBLIC behind...

SENATOR MCGEE:

Admiral Strauss, I’m interested in

your relationship with Dr J. Robert

Oppenheimer. You met in 1947?

STRAUSS:

Correct.

SENATOR MCGEE:

You were a commissioner of the

Atomic Energy Commission?

STRAUSS:

I was, but I met Robert in my

capacity as board member of the

Institute for Advanced Study at

Princeton. After the war he was

world-renowned- the great man of

physics...

(CONTINUED)

Gadget 2023-04-21 FINAL Shooting Script 6.

EXT. INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY, PRINCETON -- DAY (B&W)

Strauss, younger, fifty-one, bustles out of the Institute-

STRAUSS (V.O.)

...I was determined to get him to

run the Institute.

-to welcome the rail-thin figure of Oppenheimer (fortythree),

emerging from a TAXI in HAT and coat, PIPE in mouth.

ICONIC.

STRAUSS:

Dr Oppenheimer, an honour.

OPPENHEIMER:

Mr Strauss.

STRAUSS:

It’s pronounced 'straws'.

OPPENHEIMER:

'Oh-ppenheimer', 'aw-ppenheimer'-

any way you say it they know I’m

Jewish.

STRAUSS:

I’m a proud member of Temple

Emmanuel- 'straws' is the Southern

pronunciation. Welcome to the

Institute. I think you could be

very happy here.

OPPENHEIMER:

Oh?

STRAUSS:

Well, you’ll love the commute- the

position comes with that house for

you and your wife.

Strauss points along an avenue of trees to Olden Manor...

STRAUSS (CONT’D)

And your two children...

Oppenheimer nods as he follows Strauss into the Institute.

INT. INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY, PRINCETON -- CONTINUOUS

(B&W)

Strauss leads Oppenheimer through the Institute.

(CONTINUED)

Gadget 2023-04-21 FINAL Shooting Script 7.

STRAUSS:

I’m a great admirer of your work.

OPPENHEIMER:

You’re a physicist by training, Mr

Strauss?

STRAUSS:

No, I’m not trained in physics, or

anything else. I’m a self-made man.

OPPENHEIMER:

I can relate to that...

STRAUSS:

Really?

OPPENHEIMER:

(dry)

My father was one.

INT. PRESIDENT’S OFFICE, INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY --

MOMENTS LATER (B&W)

Strauss shows Oppenheimer into the well-appointed office.

STRAUSS:

This would be your office.

Oppenheimer drifts to the windows- a LAWN rolls down to a

POND. He spots a FIGURE- long grey hair poking from under his

hat-

STRAUSS (CONT’D)

I’m told he’s there most

afternoons.

The figure gently tosses a stone into the water.

STRAUSS (CONT’D)

I’ve always wondered why you didn’t

involved him in the Manhattan

Project.

Oppenheimer turns to Strauss, interested.

STRAUSS (CONT’D)

The greatest scientific mind of our

time?

(CONTINUED)

Gadget 2023-04-21 FINAL Shooting Script 8.

OPPENHEIMER:

Of his time. Einstein published his

Theory of Relativity more than

forty years ago, but never embraced

the quantum world it revealed.

STRAUSS:

'God doesn’t play dice.'

OPPENHEIMER:

Precisely. You never thought of

studying physics formally?

STRAUSS:

I had offers. But I chose to sell

shoes.

OPPENHEIMER:

Lewis Strauss was once a lowly shoe

salesman?

STRAUSS:

No. Just a shoe salesman.

(opens the door)

I’ll introduce you-

OPPENHEIMER:

No need. I’ve known him for years.

Strauss, awkward, stays in the doorway and WATCHES...

FROM AFAR:
as Oppenheimer approaches, Einstein’s HAT BLOWS

off his head, unleashing a MESS OF GREY HAIR, hat rolling

across the grass to where Oppenheimer SCOOPS it up, and we...

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