Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is filled with crazy moments that are ripped right from real life. But even if your movie is 3 hours, you can’t fit EVERY detail in your movie. Here are 15 insane real life stories about Robert Oppenheimer that Nolan wasn’t able to fit in his hit biopic.
#15 — He kept insisting the bomb was “bonkers”
Apparently Oppenheimer got really into using the word “bonkers” and tried to force it into every conversation he could. He’d be like “yoo it’s straight bonkers that we’re making a bomb right now” all the time. But the word wouldn’t be popularized until many decades later.
#14 — He had sex with Florence Pugh
In the movie, Oppenheimer has sex with a character played by Florence Pugh named Jean Tatlock. But in real life, Oppenheimer had sex with the actress Florence Pugh, who has been roughly 21 or 22 since the 1940s.
#13 — He hung dong
Despite rumors, Oppenheimer did not show his entire penis on the IMAX screen in Christopher Nolan’s new film. In real life, however, Oppenheimer often was nude below the waist — either when he took showers or when he had to pee or poo.
#12 — He was a member of the “dirtbag left”
The Oppenheimer movie certainly goes into the scientist’s connections to the Communist Party. The movie, however, does not include his time making a podcast with members of the party called “The Bomb Cast” where Oppy and his boys talked shit about the current state of politics and wondered what famous figures would sound like if they were gay.
#11 — He was the director of the Manhattan Project
Had to pee really bad in the middle of the movie so I actually don’t know if they covered this, but Oppenheimer actually basically invented the atomic bomb. Crazy!
#10 — He once got into a fist fight with Heisenberg
Oppenheimer and Heisenberg got really really drunk one night before World War 2 and decided to decide once and for all which of the two would win in a straight up fist fight. Although the victor has been lost to history, this fist fight contributed greatly to the arms race between the U.S. and the Nazis years down the line.
#9 — He couldn’t read
Oppenheimer never learned how to read in any language. The only languages he understood were science, death, and love-making.
#8 — He fucking loved science
Oppenheimer fucking loved science and often shared memes and images with his friends that said as much.
#7 — He only had one of those hats
In the film, there’s a terrific scene where Oppenheimer dons his iconic suit jacket and hat. In real life, however, Oppenheimer wore that hat every single day for 40 years. Friends and family begged him to wash it or buy a second hat, but Oppenheimer refused. The hat was disgusting and smelled horrible.
#6 — He and Albert Einstein were more than friends
Oppenheimer and Einstein briefly dated, although decided to split it off mutually after just a month. According to wiretaps by the FBI, Oppenheimer once said to Einstein, “let me see what you can do when you stick out that tongue.”
#5 — He was really into CrossFit
In order to stay in-shape at Los Alamos, Oppenheimer got super into CrossFit. Despite the U.S. government trying to shut down the growing movement, Oppenheimer held secret meetings with other scientists to try to get them involved in the new fitness craze. Eventually, Oppenheimer lost security clearance with the government due to his connection to the CrossFit movement.
#4 — He was Bill Nye’s father
On November 27, 1955, Oppenheimer’s wife gave birth to William “Nye” Oppenheimer — now more famously known as “Bill Nye.” Nye did everything he could to separate himself from the legacy of the atomic bomb, but he can never outrun what his father did during World War 2. Oppenheimer coined the phrase “inertia is a property of matter,” however.
#3 — He once locked himself in a screening room for four months, eating just chocolate bars and peeing in bottles
This MAY have been Howard Hughes, but I’m pretty sure it was Oppenheimer. It’s definitely one or the other. But it’s probably Oppenheimer. Whatever.
#2 — He loved Dragon Ball Z
The two atomic bombs were named “Fat Man” and “Little Boy” but Oppenheimer originally insisted they be called “Majin Buu” and “Young Goku.”
#1 — He can never go to Japan
He wasn’t banned or anything, but he is dead.
