As of: March 7, 2024, 1:00 p.m
By: Sven Trautwein
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The Oscar favorite 'Oppenheimer' has brought biographer Kai Bird unexpected sales success.
His book “American Prometheus” served as a template for the box office hit.
The Oscar favorite “Oppenheimer” not only triumphed at the box office.
He also helped Kai Bird, Robert Oppenheimer's biographer, achieve new sales successes.
"I'm probably the luckiest biographer," Bird told
AFP
.
His 2005 Pulitzer Prize-winning book “American Prometheus” (German: “J. Robert Oppenheimer – The Biography”) about the “father of the atomic bomb” formed the basis for the screenplay for Christopher Nolan's blockbuster.
The blockbuster “Oppenheimer” brings biographer Kai Bird an unexpected success.
© Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures/Imago
With grosses of over a billion dollars and 13 Oscar nominations, “Oppenheimer” emerges as the favorite at the awards ceremony.
“It's a really amazing phenomenon,” is Bird's assessment of the box office success.
Nolan's film adaptation marked the fourth attempt to bring Bird's 720-page biography of Oppenheimer, which he wrote with Martin Sherwin, to the screen.
Previous attempts failed because Hollywood studio bosses were convinced that the story of the first atomic bomb, which was built in an American desert, was too complex and controversial - more about the book here.
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Nolan's film is closely based on the biography, he even quotes entire passages from the book.
Bird was involved in the adaptation of his work into a film.
He met Nolan for the first time in September 2021 and later visited the filming location in New Mexico, where he met Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer's actor.
“When he came closer, I couldn’t resist,” Bird recalls of meeting the Irish actor.
“I shouted, 'Oh, Dr.
Oppenheimer, I've waited decades to meet her.'” Bird actually spent 25 years researching and working on his biography.
Bird won't miss the Oscars and is traveling to Hollywood with his wife.
“Oppenheimer” is nominated in 13 categories, including best adapted screenplay, best director and best film.
If the film wins the main category, as is widely expected, Nolan could use his acceptance speech to reiterate his oft-stated opinion that the US physicist Oppenheimer is the most important person who ever lived.
Bird commented on this in the
AFP interview
: "When I first heard that, I thought, 'Well, that's kind of a bit hyped up for the film.'" There was also a lot of criticism of the film.
But Bird emphasizes that Oppenheimer “brought us the atomic age, he symbolizes that era in which we still live.”
He added: “We have to live with the bomb forever.
In that sense, he is actually the most important person who ever lived.”
Kai Bird, Martin J. Sherwin “J.
Robert Oppenheimer"
Translated from the American language by Klaus Binder
2010 Ullstein/List, ISBN-13 978-3-548-60980-5
Price: paperback €16.99, e-book €14.99, 704 pages (different format)