Getty Images [left], Universal Pictures [right]
- Cillian Murphy plays the "father of the atomic bomb", J. Robert Oppenheimer, in the new film.
- Science advisors said Murphy asked questions about the theories to accurately portray his character.
- Murphy said he doesn't understand everything, but did get a top-level view of the science.
Cillian Murphy took on the task of inhabiting renowned physicist and "father of the atomic bomb" J. Robert Oppenheimer in the new film "Oppenheimer".
In order to portray the genius accurately, Murphy took care to get to know some of his science, too.
The film employed science advisors Kip Thorne, a Nobel prize-winning theoretical physicist, and David Saltzberg, a professor of physics and astronomy at UCLA. Both interacted with Murphy in preparing for and filming the movie.
For his part, Thorne met Murphy virtually and talked with him about scientific theory broadly, and Oppenheimer the man, whom Thorne studied under at Princeton, personally.
"He had very interesting questions, probing and trying to gather information to help himself playing this role. And I was very impressed," Thorne said.
Saltzberg met Murphy while working with production designers to draft the equations written on the chalkboards throughout the movie. During this, Murphy approached Saltzberg with a question that was so technical he said he had to refresh his memory before he was prepared to explain it.
The equation, Saltzberg said, had to do with calculating the speed of a certain nuclear reaction and it involves complex details about how particles interact quantum mechanically.
"It's something that only the most technical person would get down into," he said.
But Murphy seemed rather intent on learning it, so after brushing up his memory with a 1930s physics text, Saltzberg talked him through it.
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This tenacity might come from Murphy's past work portraying scientists. For his role as a physicist in the 2007 movie "Sunshine", Murphy met with scientists at CERN to prepare for the role.
"I had dinner with all these geniuses. I'll never understand quantum mechanics, but I was interested in what science does to their perspective," he told the Guardian.
Even with this preparation, Murphy didn't leave the set claiming to be an expert.
"I didn't really understand most of it. I had a vague conceptual grasp of most of it," he said in an interview with On Demand Entertainment.
Saltzberg walked away from this movie impressed by the amount of effort the cast and crew puts in in. He says it's consistent with other teams he's worked with in Hollywood.
Murphy, he said, was doing what many actors do, working hard.
"There's just an incredible dedication and level of experience that brings that all together," Saltzberg said.