Oppenheimer’s grandson claims there’s a ‘serious’ historical error with the film

Despite an impressive Rotten Tomatoes rating of 94 per cent and floods of gushing reviews, it seems Oppenheimermay contain a historical error.

The real-life grandson of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the American theoretical physicist and the 'godfather of the atomic bomb', has spoken out about a "serious accusation" in the film towards his grandfather.

Oppenheimer filmmaker Christopher Nolan based the script on the book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. It went on to win a Pulitzer Prize.

Charles Oppenheimer acknowledged that he found himself "accepting and liking" the film, but called one detail inaccurate.

"The part I like the least is this poison apple reference, which was a problem in American Prometheus," he told TIME. "If you read American Prometheus carefully enough, the authors say, 'We don't really know if it happened.'"

He was referring to the scene at the start, in which Oppenheimer (played by Cillian Murphy) leaves a poisoned apple out and a visiting scientist nearly bites into it.

"There's no record of him trying to kill somebody," he told the publication.

"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."

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It comes after cinema fanatics declare "the return of film" this summer with a string of hotly anticipated releases.

In fact, Barbie and Oppenheimer performed so well at cinemas this weekend (21 July) across the UK that Vue International said they sold the most amount of tickets since the pandemic.

Tim Richards, chief executive and founder of Vue International, said: “Vue saw its highest weekend admissions since Avengers: Endgame in 2019 with the release of Barbie and Oppenheimer, proving that when the movies are there our customers will come to watch them on the big screen.

“Barbie is tracking to become the biggest film of 2023 and has a good chance of getting into the Top 10 highest-grossing films of all time.

“It is an incredibly exciting moment for the industry, and we expect this trend to continue for the coming weeks.”

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