Kai Bird recently returned from the Jaipur writing festival, where he signed hundreds of copies of his two-decade-old book for young Indians who had all seen the film “Oppenheimer.”
“American Prometheus,” Bird’s Pulitzer-winning biography of the father of the atomic bomb, served as the inspiration for the $1 billion-grossing global smash hit film, which is expected to dominate the Oscars on Sunday.
“It’s really an astonishing phenomenon,” Bird told AFP.
“I’m probably the luckiest biographer on the planet,” he added.
Christopher Nolan’s drama was the fourth effort to adapt Bird and Martin Sherwin’s 720-page epic about J. Robert Oppenheimer, who was lauded as an American hero before being publically disgraced just a few years later.
Previous attempts have failed to persuade Hollywood studio executives, who found the topic too tough, contentious, or convoluted, according to Bird.
“I’m actually glad in retrospect, because Nolan came along. And he did something, I think, that is quite special,” he said.
Nolan’s picture adheres closely to the 2005 novel, frequently taking entire lines of speech. Bird participated in the adaption process.
He met Nolan for tea in New York in September 2021. The filmmaker had received the book six months ago, had already prepared a screenplay, and was about to fly to Ireland to sell the movie to his star actor, Cillian Murphy.
Bird later visited the movie’s set in New Mexico, where he met Murphy during a break in production.
“As he approached, I couldn’t resist — I shouted out ‘Oh, Dr. Oppenheimer, I’ve been waiting for decades to meet you!’” said Bird.
‘Beware’
Even at three hours, Nolan’s film cannot possibly cover all of the content in a book that took 25 years to research and write.
Bird and Sherwin’s biography takes readers back to Oppenheimer’s privileged youth, which was spent in a luxury New York apartment adorned with Picasso, Cezanne, and Van Gogh artwork and attended by nannies and chauffeurs.
Oppenheimer had several breakdowns that led to suicidal ideation in his early twenties.
He spent the majority of his last dozen years in a beach home in the Caribbean.
But for Bird, the film smartly concentrated on various “timely” topics inspired by Oppenheimer’s tragic trajectory.
“Even the younger generation, they see the film, and they realize that they and their parents have become quite too complacent about living with the bomb,” he went on to say.
Last Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued another “real threat” of nuclear Armageddon in response to his invasion of Ukraine.
Bird also feels that the highly polarized situation of US politics now may be linked back to the McCarthyite witch hunts of the 1950s, which took down putative Communist sympathizers like Oppenheimer.
According to Bird, Donald Trump’s mentor, lawyer Roy Cohn, served as chief counsel to Senator Joseph McCarthy.
“So there’s a direct connection between the two,” he said.
Finally, in another era driven by rapid technological change—artificial intelligence rather than atomic physics—there is a scarcity of eminent scientists prepared to speak out on politics.
“Part of the reason is exactly what happened to Oppenheimer in 1954, when he was humiliated and destroyed as a public intellectual precisely because he was using his scientific expertise to speak out” on nuclear proliferation, said Bird.
“That sends a message to scientists everywhere. ‘Beware of getting out of your narrow band of expertise.’”
Oscars
On Sunday, Bird and his wife will attend the Oscars in Hollywood. His tux is already packed.
They’ll be rooting for “Oppenheimer” across all 13 nominations, but especially for best adapted screenplay.
If “Oppenheimer” wins best picture, as is generally expected, Nolan’s address may incorporate his oft-stated conviction that Oppenheimer was the most important person who ever lived.
Does Bird agree?
“When I first heard Nolan say that, I thought, ‘Oh, well, this is a little bit of hype for the film,’” he laughed.
But “Oppenheimer gave us the atomic age, he symbolizes that era that we are still living in,” Bird said.
“We’re always going to be living with the bomb. So in that sense, he actually is the most important man who ever lived.”