'Oppenheimer' biographer dubs film 'stunning artistic achievement'

During a conversation at the Leon Levy Center for Biography in New York, historian Kai Bird, co-author of the book that inspired Christopher Nolan's upcoming film Oppenheimer, shared his excitement and expectations for the movie.

After watching the final cut of the film, Bird expressed his belief that the film will be a remarkable artistic achievement and has the potential to spark a national and even global conversation about the profound issues raised by J. Robert Oppenheimer, reports Variety.

“I am, at the moment, stunned and emotionally recovering from having seen it,” Bird said.

“I think it is going to be a stunning artistic achievement, and I have hopes it will actually stimulate a national, even global conversation about the issues that Oppenheimer was desperate to speak out about — about how to live in the atomic age, how to live with the bomb and about McCarthyism — what it means to be a patriot, and what is the role for a scientist in a society drenched with technology and science, to speak out about public issues.”

Bird, who co-wrote the Pulitzer-winning book "American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer" with Martin J. Sherwin, collaborated on the screenplay adaptation for Nolan's film. 

The book serves as a biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the renowned American physicist who led the Manhattan Project. In Nolan's film, Oppenheimer is portrayed by Cillian Murphy.

Oppenheimer's star-studded cast also includes Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, and Florence Pugh, is set to premiere in theaters on July 21st, distributed by Universal Pictures.