J. Robert Oppenheimer’s grandson, Charles Oppenheimer, says the poison apple scene in “Oppenheimer” isn’t historically correct.
Charles noted that the allegation that Robert Oppenheimer actually poisoned his tutor’s apple at the University of Cambridge has not been verified as a true event. He said it continues to be disputed today, nearly 100 years after the alleged incident, according to Time Magazine. “The part I like the least is this poison apple reference,” Charles said, according to Time. “”[It] was a problem in American Prometheus. If you read American Prometheus carefully enough, the authors say, ‘We don’t really know if it happened,’” Charles said.
My interview in Time.
I ain’t reading all that.
Happy for me though.
Or sorry that it happened. https://t.co/hTDxh2RVwR— Charles Oppenheimer (@choppen5) July 25, 2023
The scene unfolds early in the Christopher Nolan film, when Cillian Murphy is seen poisoning an apple on his university professor’s desk. He puts potassium cyanide on it in revenge, after a frustrated exchange with his professor, and then attempts to correct his actions.
“There’s no record of him trying to kill somebody,” Charles said.
“That’s a really serious accusation and it’s historical revision,” he noted.
He continued to defend his grandfather against what he deemed to be an inaccurate portrayal of his life.
“There’s not a single enemy or friend of Robert Oppenheimer who heard that during his life and considered it to be true,” Charles said to Time Magazine.
“Unfortunately, American Prometheus summarizes that as Robert Oppenheimer tried to kill his teacher and then they [acknowledge that] maybe there’s this doubt,” he said.
Charles may not agree with that particular scene, but he acknowledged that he enjoyed the movie, overall.
The apple scene “honestly didn’t bother me,” he said. (RELATED: Cillian Murphy Openly Declares He’d Be Willing To Play Ken In The Next ‘Barbie’)
J. Robert Oppenheimer’s grandson, Charles Oppenheimer, weighs in on the film: “Chris Nolan gave me a call. He had finished the script and he said, ‘I have so much material with American Prometheus’” https://t.co/LHL1Fzuxzm
— TIME (@TIME) July 26, 2023
“Sometimes facts get dragged through a game of telephone. In the movie, it’s treated vaguely and you don’t really know what’s going on unless you know this incredibly deep backstory,” he said to Time Magazine.
“So it honestly didn’t bother me. It bothers me that it was in the biography with that emphasis, not a disclaimer of, this is an unsubstantiated rumor that we want to put in our book to make it interesting,” he said.