Cillian Murphy’s Oppenheimer Is Trending Because Of Alleged Racism
Oppenheimer is getting the wrong kind of attention
When Christopher Nolan let Hollywood know that for the first time in years he planned to leave Warner Bros. behind for his next movie, it sent the industry town into a frenzy, with all the major studios stumbling over one another to get the chance to host the director’s next project. Now, a new kind of fire is brewing under the production of Oppenheimer, and it’s the kind the folks making the movie might not like quite so much. As new additions to the cast of Oppenheimer continue to be announced — at a rate that makes the word “ensemble” seem entirely too small — people can’t help but notice that the cast is pretty much a big solid wall of white.
The first actor to be cast in Oppenheimer was Cillian Murphy, who will be playing the titular lead scientist of the Manhattan Project — the clandestine project which led to the development of the first functioning atomic bomb. Other early casting announcements included Robert Downey Jr. as politician and infamous Oppenheimer-hater Lewis Strauss, Matt Damon as Lieutenant General Leslie Groves Jr. who was the military director of the project, Emily Blunt as Oppenheimer’s wife Kitty, and Florence Pugh as his mistress Jean Tatlock. Since then, the cast announced include Kenneth Branagh, Rami Malek, Josh Hartnett, Jack Quaid, David Dastmalchian, Dane DeHaan, David Krumholtz, Louise Lombard, Alden Ehrenreich, and still plenty more. As you can see in the tweet below, it makes for a very single-colored cast.
No, the twitter user above is not the only person who’s noticed just how white the Christopher Nolan movie is proving to be. Plenty of others are letting their displeasure with the casting for the movie be known. And as usual, the wit on Twitter is pretty much on point.
There are some with another point of view. Some Twitter users seem to think that, yes, there’s definitely some discrimination going on in the casting process for the upcoming Christopher Nolan epic. But considering the subject of the movie is known for making nuclear weapons a reality, they’re kind of fine with that.
Of course, while there’s obviously some humor in the above posts, this brings up a subject that’s being discussed by a lot of people on the opposing side of the discussion, like the person who wrote the tweet below — historical accuracy. They argue Christopher Nolan and his colleagues aren’t partaking in racist casting but are simply reflecting the unfortunate realities of the time.
Now, as justified as the folks making this argument may feel, and as clever as the Twitter user above probably feels after posting this, it’s wrong. It’s objectively incorrect. The 1940’s — when the Manhattan Project took place — were certainly a much more difficult time for Black people in the United States. But as the Atomic Heritage Foundation points out, as well as some Twitter users, there were in fact Black scientists working on the Manhattan Project.
Between this, and a recent interview in which Zoë Kravitz said she was stopped from auditioning for The Dark Knight Rises because she was Black, it could be that the Christopher Nolan legacy is in danger. It’s particularly troubling considering the massive size of the Oppenheimer cast, not to mention that considering the times… has no one said anything to the guy about this?
