Christopher Nolan is back. The director has become a household name with his Batman trilogy starring Christian Bale. He took us through a mind-bending take on corporate spying with Inception. Tenet was a trip, but even before these films—he clinched critical acclaim with smaller budget films like Memento and Insomnia. His next project is somewhat salient given the Ukraine war and how it could draw nuclear-armed powers into conflict. Nolan plans to do a movie about the Manhattan Project. It’s called Oppenheimer. It’ll be released in 2023, but the cast has been revealed. It’s an all-star crew (via Variety):
“Drake and Josh” star Josh Peck has joined the sprawling cast of Christopher Nolan’s World War II epic “Oppenheimer.”
He will play Kenneth Bainbridge, a real scientist who was involved in the Manhattan Project, the code name for America’s effort to develop nuclear weapons during the second world war.
Cillian Murphy is starring as J. Robert Oppenheimer in the movie, which examines the physicist whose contribution led to the creation of the atomic bomb. Murphy will be surrounded by an A-list ensemble, including Emily Blunt as biologist and botanist Kitty Oppenheimer, Matt Damon as Manhattan Project director Leslie Groves Jr. and Robert Downey, Jr. as founding commissioner of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission Lewis Strauss.
There are at least a dozen other recognizable actors already on board. Florence Pugh will play psychiatrist Jean Tatlock, Benny Safdie will portray theoretical physicist Edward Teller and Josh Hartnett will embody pioneering American nuclear scientist Ernest Lawrence. Rami Malek, “This Is Us” and “Sky High” actor Michael Angarano, “Solo: A Star Wars Story” star Alden Ehrenreich, Kenneth Branagh and Matthew Modine will also appear in the film.
Universal Pictures is backing “Oppenheimer,” which costs $100 million to produce. It’s scheduled to release in theaters on July 21, 2023.
I look forward to anything that Nolan does. It should be a pretty good historical film. And yet, what are some people whining about? The cast itself. Yes, apparently there aren’t enough people of color. An editor for Entertainment Weekly decided to hurl that into the Twitterverse and got ratioed for the insufferably stupid take. There were no mass hordes of blacks, Asians, and other folks deemed necessary in people of color bean counter that the ‘woke’ cling to like a barnacle. This is history, kids. This is 1940s America. This isn’t San Francisco in the modern era. Get a grip.
You can play where's Waldo trying to find any POC here. https://t.co/NuTfPAPdVe
— Yolanda Machado (@SassyMamainLA) March 11, 2022
Rami Malek is literally in the top row.
— Noam Blum (@neontaster) March 11, 2022
Make Einstein a black woman. pic.twitter.com/CYMSkuT8gy
— Noam Blum (@neontaster) March 11, 2022
To be fair, I don’t think Manhattan project was known for its diversity and I’m glad it wasn’t lol
— Carlos Aguilar (@ceaguila) March 11, 2022
Very few. My family worked at Los alamos during this period but only in menial roles and they were hired specifically because they didn’t speak English and thus couldn’t violate any secrecy.
— Naninizhoni (@naninizhoni) March 11, 2022
I’m not offended to not see them in major roles here. It’s understandable.
But how many POC did Oppenheimer have contact with in relation to the story? We're talking 20th century history not adding hip hop to an ancient past. #Oppenheimer
— Bernie Wong ???????? (@BernieWong14) March 11, 2022
here for the ratio
— Erielle Davidson (@politicalelle) March 11, 2022
Some of the replies were great, but the point remains. Making a history movie means accurate representation. Thomas Jefferson is not a woman; therefore, a woman cannot play him. Alexander Hamilton isn’t black either. To suggest otherwise is nothing but pure delusion and historical illiteracy which is a hallmark characteristic of the Left.
Where are the people of color in a movie about the Manhattan Project? Is this just trolling? Satire? Or was this a serious observation?
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