Oppenheimer_2023
<script>
  <scene>
    <character>GADGET</character>
    <dialogue>Written by</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Christopher Nolan Based on the novel: "American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer" By Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin © 2022 SYNCOPY A VAST SPHERE OF FIRE, the fire of a thousand suns, slowly eats the night-time desert. A line of black type appears: PROMETHEUS STOLE FIRE FROM THE GODS AND GAVE IT TO MAN. And the sound of DOZENS OF FEET STAMPING RHYTHMICALLY... FOR THIS HE WAS CHAINED TO A ROCK AND TORTURED FOR ETERNITY. ROILING PLASMA expands, the sound of STAMPING GROWS OPPRESSIVE, the STAMPING FASTER and FASTER OVER- A FACE. Gaunt, tense, EYES TIGHTLY SHUT. The face SHUDDERS- the sound CEASES AS MY EYES OPEN, STARING INTO THE CAMERA: Peer into my soul- J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER, aged fifty, close- cropped greying hair. The gentle sounds of bureaucracy... SUPER TITLE: "1. FISSION"</scene_description>
    <character>VOICE (O.S.)</character>
    <dialogue>Dr Oppenheimer, as we begin, I believe you have a statement to read into the record?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I glance down at my notes.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Yes, your honour-</dialogue>
    <character>SECOND VOICE (O.S.)</character>
    <dialogue>We're not judges, doctor.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>No. Of course.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(I start reading)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Members of the Security Board, the so-called derogatory information in your indictment of me cannot be fairly understood except in the context of my life and work. This answer is a summary of relevant aspects of my life in more or less chronological order...</dialogue>
    <character>SENATE AIDE (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>How long did he testify?</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SENATE OFFICE -- DAY (BLACK-AND-WHITE SEQUENCE)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>CLOSE: on a prosperous sixty-three-year-old man, LEWIS STRAUSS, as he takes a cup of coffee from a SENATE AIDE... SUPER TITLE: "2. FUSION"</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>I forget. Three days, or so. The whole hearing took a month.</dialogue>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>An ordeal.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>I've only read the transcripts, but who'd want to justify their whole life?</dialogue>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>You weren't there?</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>As Chairman, I wasn't allowed to be. Are they really going to ask about it? It was years ago.</dialogue>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>Four years ago. Oppenheimer still divides America- the committee will want to know where you stood.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(checks his watch)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Ready?</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CORRIDOR, SENATE BUILDING -- MOMENTS LATER (B&amp;W)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The Senate Aide leads Strauss along the corridor.</scene_description>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>Senator Thurmond asked me to say not to feel you're on trial.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>I didn't, till you said that.</dialogue>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>Really, Mr Strauss- STRAUSS</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Admiral.</scene_description>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>Admiral Strauss, this is a formality.</dialogue>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>President Eisenhower's asked you to be in his cabinet, the Senate has no choice but to confirm you.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>They arrive at the door.</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>And if they bring up Oppenheimer?</dialogue>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>When they bring up Oppenheimer, answer honestly and no senator can deny that you did your duty. It'll be uncomfortable...</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(smiles)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Who'd want to justify their whole life?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The door to the VAST committee room opens- they enter, FLASHBULBS POPPING as PRESS and PUBLIC see Strauss.</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Why did you leave the United States?</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -- DAY (COLOUR)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The room is SMALL, SHABBY. Surprised, I look up from my statement at the prosecutor, Roger ROBB. Then turn to the THREE BOARD MEMBERS (GRAY, EVANS, MORGAN).</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I wanted to learn the new physics.</dialogue>
    <character>GRAY</character>
    <dialogue>Was there nowhere here? I thought Berkeley had the leading theoretical physics department-</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Sure. Once I built it. First I had to go to Europe. I went to Cambridge to work under Patrick Blackett.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Were you happier there than in America?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>INSERT CUT: A YOUNG ME (TWENTY-ONE) LIES IN BED STARING UP, CRYING... PARTICLES WITH THE VASTNESS OF THE STARS MOVE LIKE FIREFLIES...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>No. I was homesick. Emotionally immature... troubled by visions of a hidden universe...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. LABORATORY, CAMBRIDGE -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The young ME, frazzled demeanor, STRUGGLES with equipment.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>...useless in the lab.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I drop a beaker, it SHATTERS. PATRICK BLACKETT looks over, FROWNING. He picks up an APPLE and takes a LARGE BITE.</scene_description>
    <character>BLACKETT</character>
    <parenthetical>(through apple)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Christ, Oppenheimer, have you had any sleep? Start again.</dialogue>
    <character>YOUNG OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I need to go to the lecture.</dialogue>
    <character>BLACKETT</character>
    <dialogue>Why?</dialogue>
    <character>YOUNG OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <parenthetical>(pleading)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>It's Niels Bohr.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Blackett checks his watch- starts packing up-</scene_description>
    <character>BLACKETT</character>
    <dialogue>Damn, completely forgot. Let's go.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I start to pack up with the other students.</scene_description>
    <character>BLACKETT</character>
    <dialogue>Not you. Finish coating those plates.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I clean up as Blackett and the other students leave- one leaves an APPLE for Blackett- GREEN WITH STEM AND TINY LEAF. I pause at a bottle: "Potassium Cyanide"... CLUMSY HANDS SHAKING, I draw CYANIDE into a syringe. I INJECT the apple...</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. QUADRANGLE, CAMBRIDGE -- EVENING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I HURRY across the quad. A lonely figure.</scene_description>
    <character>BOHR (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Quantum physics isn't a step forward...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. LECTURE HALL, CAMBRIDGE -- CONTINUOUS</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I sneak into the back of the auditorium. Standing, SPELLBOUND, as NIELS BOHR, a charismatic Dane, lectures.</scene_description>
    <character>BOHR</character>
    <dialogue>...It's a new way to understand reality. Einstein's opened a door, now we're peering through, seeing a world inside our world... a world of energy and paradox that not everyone can accept.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I RAISE my hand to ask a question...</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SENATE COMMITTEE HEARING ROOM -- DAY (B&amp;W)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Strauss sits facing the Committee, COUNSEL beside him, PRESS, CAMERAS and PUBLIC behind...</scene_description>
    <character>SENATOR MCGEE</character>
    <dialogue>Admiral Strauss, I'm interested in your relationship with Dr J. Robert Oppenheimer. You met in 1947?</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Correct.</dialogue>
    <character>SENATOR MCGEE</character>
    <dialogue>You were a commissioner of the Atomic Energy Commission?</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>I was, but I met Robert in my capacity as board member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. After the war he was world-renowned- the great man of physics...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY, PRINCETON -- DAY (B&amp;W)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Strauss, younger, fifty-one, bustles out of the Institute-</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>...I was determined to get him to run the Institute.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>-to welcome the rail-thin figure of Oppenheimer (forty- three), emerging from a TAXI in HAT and coat, PIPE in mouth. ICONIC.</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Dr Oppenheimer, an honour.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Mr Strauss.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>It's pronounced 'straws'.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>'Oh-ppenheimer', 'aw-ppenheimer'- any way you say it they know I'm Jewish.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>I'm a proud member of Temple Emmanuel- 'straws' is the Southern pronunciation. Welcome to the Institute. I think you could be very happy here.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Oh?</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Well, you'll love the commute- the position comes with that house for you and your wife.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Strauss points along an avenue of trees to Olden Manor...</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>And your two children...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Oppenheimer nods as he follows Strauss into the Institute.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY, PRINCETON -- CONTINUOUS</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>(B&amp;W) Strauss leads Oppenheimer through the Institute.</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>I'm a great admirer of your work.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>You're a physicist by training, Mr Strauss?</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>No, I'm not trained in physics, or anything else. I'm a self-made man.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I can relate to that...</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Really?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <parenthetical>(dry)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>My father was one.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. PRESIDENT'S OFFICE, INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY --</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>MOMENTS LATER (B&amp;W) Strauss shows Oppenheimer into the well-appointed office.</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>This would be your office.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Oppenheimer drifts to the windows- a LAWN rolls down to a POND. He spots a FIGURE- long grey hair poking from under his hat-</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>I'm told he's there most afternoons.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The figure gently tosses a stone into the water.</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>I've always wondered why you didn't involved him in the Manhattan Project.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Oppenheimer turns to Strauss, interested.</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>The greatest scientific mind of our time?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Of his time. Einstein published his Theory of Relativity more than forty years ago, but never embraced the quantum world it revealed.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>'God doesn't play dice.'</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Precisely. You never thought of studying physics formally?</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>I had offers. But I chose to sell shoes.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Lewis Strauss was once a lowly shoe salesman?</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>No. Just a shoe salesman.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(opens the door)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I'll introduce you-</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>No need. I've known him for years.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Strauss, awkward, stays in the doorway and WATCHES... FROM AFAR: as Oppenheimer approaches, Einstein's HAT BLOWS off his head, unleashing a MESS OF GREY HAIR, hat rolling across the grass to where Oppenheimer SCOOPS it up, and we...</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -- DAY (COLOUR)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I flip a page. Continue reading my statement.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I struggled badly trying to visualize this new world...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. ROOMS AT CAMBRIDGE -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The Young Me lies on the floor, STARING UP.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>...you had to retool your mind to see things hovering just out of site...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>INSERT CUT: POINTS OF LIGHT MOVE LIKE SPARKS, BUT IN A WAVE.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>...then you could unlock forces never before imagined...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I wipe TEARS from my eyes. INSERT CUT: STARS. SPARKS FROM A CAMPFIRE. I PAT THE NOSE OF A HORSE IN THE DARKNESS AS I FEED IT AN APPLE. I grow calm, my eyelids lowering... INSERT CUT: AN APPLE- GREEN WITH STEM AND A TINY LEAF... I open MY EYES- JUMP out of bed- SCRAMBLE to dress-</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. QUADRANGLE, CAMBRIDGE -- MOMENTS LATER</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I RUN, DESPERATE, AGAINST the crowd-</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. LABORATORY, CAMBRIDGE -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I BURST in- Blackett LOOKS UP. ANOTHER MAN has his back to me. Between them on the workbench- the POISONED APPLE...</scene_description>
    <character>BLACKETT</character>
    <dialogue>You alright?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I nod awkward, trying to control my BREATHING...</scene_description>
    <character>BLACKETT</character>
    <dialogue>Niels, meet J. Robert Oppenheimer.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The other man TURNS, offers his hand- Niels Bohr.</scene_description>
    <character>BOHR</character>
    <dialogue>What does the 'J' stand for?</dialogue>
    <character>BLACKETT</character>
    <dialogue>Nothing, apparently.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Bohr takes me in- this strange, BREATHLESS young man...</scene_description>
    <character>BOHR</character>
    <dialogue>You were at my lecture. You asked the only good question.</dialogue>
    <character>BLACKETT</character>
    <dialogue>Nobody's denying his insight. It's his labouratory skills that leave a little to be desired.</dialogue>
    <character>YOUNG OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I heard you give the same BOHR lecture- At Harvard. And you asked the</dialogue>
    <scene_description>same question. Why ask again?</scene_description>
    <character>YOUNG OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I hadn't liked your answer.</dialogue>
    <character>BOHR</character>
    <dialogue>Did you like it better yesterday?</dialogue>
    <character>YOUNG OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>A lot.</dialogue>
    <character>BOHR</character>
    <dialogue>You can lift the rock without being ready for the snake that's revealed. Now, it seems, you're ready.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Bohr picks up the POISONED APPLE from Blackett's desk...</scene_description>
    <character>BOHR</character>
    <dialogue>You don't enjoy the lab?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I shake my head. Bohr GESTICULATES with the apple as he talks- I watch it bob around- a kitten following a ball of string...</scene_description>
    <character>BOHR</character>
    <dialogue>Get out of Cambridge, with its beakers and potions. Go somewhere they'll let you think...</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(assesses me)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Gottingen.</dialogue>
    <character>BLACKETT</character>
    <dialogue>Born?</dialogue>
    <character>BOHR</character>
    <dialogue>Born. Get to Germany. Study under Max Born. Learn the ways of theory. I'll send word.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Bohr raises the apple to take a bite- I GRAB it.</scene_description>
    <character>YOUNG OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Wormhole.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>-DROP it into the wastebasket. Blackett peers at it, curious.</scene_description>
    <character>BOHR</character>
    <dialogue>How's your mathematics?</dialogue>
    <character>BLACKETT</character>
    <dialogue>Not good enough for the physicist he wants to be.</dialogue>
    <character>BOHR</character>
    <dialogue>Algebra's like sheet music. The important thing isn't can you read music, it's can you hear it. Can you hear the music, Robert?</dialogue>
    <character>YOUNG OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I can.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>SPARKS explode in WAVES, WAVES of FIRE CRASHING on a SHORE of GLASS, FLYING OVER the MEDIEVAL SPIRES of Gottingen, I watch BORN and BOHR and DIRAC, GALAXIES of PARTICLES DISPERSE and REFORM, a CUBIST PAINTING transfixes the Young Me, an ORCHESTRA plays STRAVINSKY, I read THE WASTE LAND, I WRITE FURIOUSLY at a desk, I WRITE FURIOUSLY on a chalkboard, I SMASH a glass, and ANOTHER, and ANOTHER, WATCHING the SHARDS skid across the floor, CATCHING and REFRACTING LIGHT, I watch RAINDROPS scintillate a PUDDLE, STREAM down a windowpane, I disturb the surface of a sink full of WATER, watching RIPPLES propagate and INTERFERE, I BOUNCE a ball against a corner of my room, studying its trajectory...</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY, PRINCETON -- DAY (B&amp;W)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Strauss watches Oppenheimer hand the HAT to Einstein. Strauss checks his watch, then starts down the hill towards them. As he approaches, Einstein TURNS, walking towards Strauss with a GRIM EXPRESSION.</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <parenthetical>(friendly)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Albert...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Einstein PASSES without acknowledging Strauss. Strauss reaches Oppenheimer-</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>What did you say to him?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>He's fine. Mr Strauss, there are things in my past you need to be aware of.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>As Chairman of the AEC I have access to your security file. I've read it. The job is yours.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>You're not worried?</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>After all you've done for your country?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Times change, Mr Strauss.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>The purpose of this Institute is to provide a haven for independent minds. You're the man for the job.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Then I'll consider it. And I'll see you at the AEC meeting tomorrow.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Oppenheimer turns, heads back up the hill.</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <parenthetical>(taken aback)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>This is one of the most prestigious appointments in the country...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Oppenheimer looks back at Strauss, GRINS-</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>With a great commute. That's why I'm considering it.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Strauss watches him go, shaking his head.</scene_description>
    <character>SENATOR MCGEE (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>So, Dr Oppenheimer brought your attention to his past associations before you appointed him?</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SENATE COMMITTEE HEARING ROOM -- DAY (B&amp;W)</stage_direction>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Yes.</dialogue>
    <character>SENATOR MCGEE</character>
    <dialogue>And they didn't concern you?</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Just then I was more concerned about what he'd said to Einstein to sour him on me.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>A few CHUCKLES from the room.</scene_description>
    <character>SENATOR MCGEE</character>
    <dialogue>But later?</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Well, we all know what happened later.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -- DAY (COLOUR)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The board members listen as I continue reading...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>After Gottingen I moved on to Leiden in Holland...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. LECTURE HALL, LEIDEN -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A packed hall. The Young Me nervously checks my notes.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>...where I first met Isidor Rabi...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>A stocky young man, ISIDOR RABI (thirty), plonks down next to a DUTCH STUDENT who reluctantly shifts, giving him room.</scene_description>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>A Yank lecturing on new physics? This I have to hear- I'm an American myself.</dialogue>
    <character>DUTCH STUDENT</character>
    <dialogue>How surprising.</dialogue>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>Let me know if you need help with the English.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I start lecturing... IN DUTCH. Ravi, confused, leans in.</scene_description>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>Wait, what's he saying?</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. TRAIN, LEIDEN TO ZURICH -- NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I stare out the window at dark trees, steam and shadows, Rabi dumps his bags down, slumps opposite, sizes me up. Offers me an orange-</scene_description>
    <character>YOUNG OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>No, thank you.</dialogue>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>It's a long way to Zurich. You get any skinnier we might lose you between the seat cushions. I'm Rabi.</dialogue>
    <character>YOUNG OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Oppenheimer.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Rabi starts peeling his orange.</scene_description>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>I caught your lecture on molecules. Caught some if it- we're a couple of New York Jews- how do you know Dutch?</dialogue>
    <character>YOUNG OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I thought I'd better learn it when I got here this semester.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Rabi STOPS peeling his orange to STARE at me-</scene_description>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>You learned Dutch in six weeks to give a lecture on quantum mechanics?</dialogue>
    <character>YOUNG OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I wanted to challenge myself.</dialogue>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>Quantum physics isn't challenging enough? Schvitzer.</dialogue>
    <character>YOUNG OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Schvitzer?</dialogue>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>'Show-off.' Dutch in six weeks but you never learned Yiddish?</dialogue>
    <character>YOUNG OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <parenthetical>(smile)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>They don't speak it so much my side of the park.</dialogue>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>Screw you. Homesick?</dialogue>
    <character>YOUNG OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>You know it.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Rabi peels his orange. He turns serious...</scene_description>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>Ever get the feeling our kind isn't entirely welcome here?</dialogue>
    <character>YOUNG OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Physicists?</dialogue>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>Funny.</dialogue>
    <character>YOUNG OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Sometimes. Not in the department.</dialogue>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>They're all Jewish, too.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Rabi tosses me a slice of orange.</scene_description>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>Eat.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I take the orange, 'sipping' at it.</scene_description>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>In Zurich there's a German you have to seek out-</dialogue>
    <character>YOUNG OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Heisenberg.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. LECTURE HALL, ZURICH -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A tall man of twenty-six turns from the blackboard- HEISENBERG. I study his every move. Rabi NUDGES me 'See?'...</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SAME -- LATER</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Rabi introduces me to Heisenberg.</scene_description>
    <character>HEISENBERG</character>
    <dialogue>Oppenheimer, yes. I liked your paper on molecules.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Probably because you inspired it.</dialogue>
    <character>HEISENBERG</character>
    <dialogue>If I inspire anything else, let me know. We could publish together.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I have to get back to America.</dialogue>
    <character>HEISENBERG</character>
    <dialogue>Why? There's no one there taking quantum mechanics seriously.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>That's exactly why.</dialogue>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>He's pining for the canyons of Manhattan.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>The canyons of New Mexico.</dialogue>
    <character>HEISENBERG</character>
    <dialogue>You're from New Mexico?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>New York, but my brother and I have a ranch outside of Santa Fe. That's the America I miss right now.</dialogue>
    <character>HEISENBERG</character>
    <dialogue>Then you best go home, cowboys.</dialogue>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>That's his thing- me and horses? I don't think so.</dialogue>
    <character>GRAY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Did you ever encounter Heisenberg again?</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I smile to myself.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Not in person. But you might say our paths crossed.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Doctor, during your time in Europe, you seem to have met a wide range of other countries' physicists...</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(consulting notes)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Born, Bohr, Pauli, Dirac, Einstein, Heisenberg...?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>That's right.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Robb looks up at me...</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Any Russians?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Not that spring to mind.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(from notes)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Returning to America I accepted appointments at both Caltech...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. BERKELEY -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I walk across campus to the physics department...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>...and up at Berkeley.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CORRIDOR, BERKELEY -- CONTINUOUS</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I struggle to unlock a door... it opens-</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CLASSROOM, BERKELEY -- CONTINUOUS</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A DUSTY storage space. Scattered tables and chairs. A piano.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. CORRIDOR, BERKELEY -- MOMENTS LATER</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I step out of the classroom. Look NEXT DOOR...</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. RAD LAB, BERKELEY -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I enter. A handsome young scientist, ERNEST LAWRENCE, works on an assemblage of curved pipes and wiring with students, including Luis ALVAREZ.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Dr. Lawrence, I presume.</dialogue>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>You must be Oppenheimer. I hear you want to start a school of quantum theory.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I am starting it. Next door.</dialogue>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>They put you in there?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I asked for it. I wanted to be close to you experimentalists.</dialogue>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>Theory will get you only so far.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(gestures)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>We're building a machine to accelerate electrons.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Magnificent.</dialogue>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>Would you like to help?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Build it? No. But I'm working on theories I'd like to test with it.</dialogue>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>When do you start teaching?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I've got my first in an hour.</dialogue>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>Seminar?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Pupil.</dialogue>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>One student? That's it?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I'm teaching something no one LAWRENCE (CONT'D) here's dreamt of. But once (grins)</dialogue>
    <dialogue>people start hearing what you There's no going back. can do with it...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CLASSROOM, BERKELEY -- LATER</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I stand there, expectant. A student opens the door, looks around, embarrassed-</scene_description>
    <character>STUDENT</character>
    <dialogue>I'm sorry, I must have missed-</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>No, this is it. Mr Lomanitz, right?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>LOMANITZ (twenty-one) nods, takes a seat.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>What do you know about quantum mechanics?</dialogue>
    <character>LOMANITZ</character>
    <dialogue>I have a grasp on the basics-</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Then you're doing it wrong.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(rapid-fire)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Is light made up of particles or waves?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Lomanitz opens his mouth to speak- too slow-</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Quantum mechanics says it's both- how can it be both?</dialogue>
    <character>LOMANITZ</character>
    <dialogue>It can't. OPPENHEIMER</dialogue>
    <scene_description>It can't. But it is. It's paradoxical and yet... it works. Lomanitz is hooked. I turn to the board, chalk out an equation... when I turn back- There are now FIVE students (including SERBER and SNYDER) listening intently... I move to Lomanitz to hand him his paper. I pat his shoulder.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>You're gonna be okay.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>DISSOLVE TO: A PACKED CLASSROOM, hanging on my every word as I- now thirty- two, slim, well-dressed, confident- teach in the round. Lawrence listens at the edge, fascinated.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Consider a star... a vast furnace burning in outer space...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>INSERT CUT: A STAR. A SUN. BURNING, ROILING.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Fire pushing outwards against its own gravity- balanced. But if its furnace cools, gravity starts winning. It contracts...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I look around. Make eye contact with Hartland SNYDER.</scene_description>
    <character>SNYDER</character>
    <dialogue>Density increases...</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Increasing gravity...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>INSERT CUT: THE SUN IS SHRINKING, MORE AND MORE RAPIDLY...</scene_description>
    <character>SNYDER</character>
    <dialogue>Increasing density. A vicious cycle. Until... What's the limit here?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I don't know. See where the math takes us. I guarantee it's somewhere no one's been before.</dialogue>
    <character>SNYDER</character>
    <dialogue>Me?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Your math's better than mine.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. BERKELEY -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Energetic, dashing, I STRIDE across campus, a group of students, including Snyder and Lomanitz, following me, hanging on my every word...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Einstein can't accept the Copenhagen interpretation-</dialogue>
    <character>LOMANITZ</character>
    <dialogue>'God doesn't play dice.'</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Except he does. Bohr showed us how...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CLASSROOM, BERKELEY -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I mark up a paper. Lawrence comes in, frowns at the board.</scene_description>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>You shouldn't let them bring their politics into the classroom...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I follow his look: "SATURDAY 2:00pm, RALLY FOR LOYALIST SPAIN".</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I wrote that. Lawrence, you embrace the revolution in physics, can't you see it everywhere else? Picasso, Stravinsky, Freud, Marx...</dialogue>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>This is America, Oppie. We had our revolution. Seriously, keep it out of the lab.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Well, out of the lab, my landlady's having a discussion group tonight.</dialogue>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>I've sampled the Berkeley political scene- it's all philosophy postgrads and Communists talking integration.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>You don't care about integration?</dialogue>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>I want to vote for it, not talk about it. Let's get dinner.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I'm meeting my brother there.</dialogue>
    <character>SENATOR BARTLETT (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Dr Oppenheimer's file contained details of FBI surveillance on his activities at Berkeley...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SENATE COMMITTEE HEARING ROOM -- DAY (B&amp;W)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Strauss looks at the senator, cautious...</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Yes, as I recall.</dialogue>
    <character>SENATOR BARTLETT</character>
    <dialogue>Why would they have started a file on Dr Oppenheimer before the war?</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>You'd have to ask Mr Hoover.</dialogue>
    <character>SENATOR BARTLETT</character>
    <dialogue>I'm asking you, Admiral Strauss.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>My assumption is that it was connected to his left-wing political activities.</dialogue>
    <character>SENATOR BARTLETT</character>
    <dialogue>How would these activities have come to the attention of the FBI?</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Well, if I remember correctly...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. HOUSE PARTY, SHASTA ROAD, BERKELEY -- NIGHT (COLOUR)</stage_direction>
    <character>STRAUSS (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>The FBI was taking license plates outside suspected Communist gatherings and his name popped up.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>As I get out of my car, I spot TWO MEN checking the license plates of cars on the street... I am GRABBED-</scene_description>
    <character>FRANK (O.S.)</character>
    <dialogue>Gotcha!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>My younger brother FRANK (twenty-five) and his date, JACKIE.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. LIVING ROOM, HOUSE PARTY, SHASTA ROAD, BERKELEY -- NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>We ENTER the bustling room- I spot a beguiling young woman-</scene_description>
    <character>VOICE (O.S.)</character>
    <dialogue>Robert! Come meet Chevalier.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Mary WASHBURN grabs my tie and leads us to Haakon CHEVALIER.</scene_description>
    <character>WASHBURN</character>
    <dialogue>Dr Haakon Chevalier, Dr Robert Oppenheimer, and vice versa.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>This is my little brother, Frank. Oh, and... uh...</dialogue>
    <character>JACKIE</character>
    <dialogue>Still Jackie.</dialogue>
    <character>CHEVALIER</character>
    <dialogue>Hello, Still Jackie.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Chevalier. You're in languages?</dialogue>
    <character>CHEVALIER</character>
    <dialogue>And your reputation precedes you.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I'm blushing- what've you heard?</dialogue>
    <character>CHEVALIER</character>
    <dialogue>You're teaching a radical new approach to physics that I have no chance of understanding. But I hadn't heard you were a party member-</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I'm not.</dialogue>
    <character>FRANK</character>
    <dialogue>Not yet.</dialogue>
    <character>JACKIE</character>
    <dialogue>Frank and I are thinking of OPPENHEIMER joining- (ignoring Jackie)</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I support of range of causes. Jackie, put out, leads Frank away.</scene_description>
    <character>CHEVALIER</character>
    <dialogue>The Spanish Civil War?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>A democratic republic being overthrown by fascist thugs? Who wouldn't be?</dialogue>
    <character>CHEVALIER</character>
    <dialogue>Our government- they think socialism's a bigger threat than fascism.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Not for long- look at what the Nazis are doing to the Jews. I send funds to colleagues in Germany to emigrate. I have to do something. My own work is so... abstract.</dialogue>
    <character>CHEVALIER</character>
    <dialogue>What're you working on?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>What happens to stars when they die.</dialogue>
    <character>CHEVALIER</character>
    <dialogue>Do stars die?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>If they do they'd cool, then collapse. And the bigger the star, the more violent its demise. Their gravity gets so concentrated...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>INSERT CUT: THE SUN SHRINKS. THE LIGHT OF THE DISTANT STARS BEHIND IS TUGGED TOWARDS THE DYING STAR, BENDING, STRETCHING.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>...it swallows everything. Even light.</dialogue>
    <character>CHEVALIER</character>
    <dialogue>Good God. Can that really happen?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>The math says it can. If we can get published, maybe one day an astronomer finds one. But all I have is theory. Which can't impact people's lives.</dialogue>
    <character>CHEVALIER</character>
    <dialogue>If you're sending money to Spain, do it through the Communist Party- they can get it to the front lines.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The beguiling young woman is there with a tray of martinis. This is Jean TATLOCK...</scene_description>
    <character>TATLOCK</character>
    <dialogue>Mary sent me with these. I'm Jean.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Robert.</dialogue>
    <character>CHEVALIER</character>
    <dialogue>Haakon Chevalier. The union meeting at Serber's last month?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Tatlock nods. I take a glass.</scene_description>
    <character>CHEVALIER</character>
    <dialogue>Robert here says he's not a Communist.</dialogue>
    <character>TATLOCK</character>
    <dialogue>Then he doesn't know enough about it.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I've read Das Kapital. All three volumes. Does that count?</dialogue>
    <character>CHEVALIER</character>
    <dialogue>That would make you better read than most Party members.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>It's turgid stuff, but there's some thinking... 'Ownership is theft.'</dialogue>
    <character>TATLOCK</character>
    <dialogue>'Property', not 'Ownership'.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Sorry, I read it in the original German.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Chevalier laughs, delighted, as he leaves us alone.</scene_description>
    <character>TATLOCK</character>
    <dialogue>It's not about the book, it's about the ideas. You sound uncommitted.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I'm committed to thinking freely about how to improve our world. Why limit yourself to one dogma?</dialogue>
    <character>TATLOCK</character>
    <dialogue>You're a physicist- do you pick and choose rules? Or do you use the discipline to channel your energies into progress?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I like a little wiggle room. Do you always toe the party line?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Tatlock considers this. Sizes me up.</scene_description>
    <character>TATLOCK</character>
    <dialogue>I like my wiggle room, too.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. BEDROOM -- LATER</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>We are FUCKING. Hot, sweaty, a little brutal. Tatlock GIVES UP, climbs off me-</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Wait, wait-</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I catch my breath, watching her STUDY my shelves.</scene_description>
    <character>TATLOCK</character>
    <dialogue>Unexpected.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>What?</dialogue>
    <character>TATLOCK</character>
    <dialogue>For a physicist.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>You've only got a shelf full of Freud?</dialogue>
    <character>TATLOCK</character>
    <dialogue>Actually my background's more- OPPENHEIMER</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Jungian.</scene_description>
    <character>TATLOCK</character>
    <dialogue>You know analysis.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>When I was a postgrad at Cambridge I had some trouble.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She turns to me.</scene_description>
    <character>TATLOCK</character>
    <dialogue>I'll bite.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I tried to poison my tutor.</dialogue>
    <character>TATLOCK</character>
    <dialogue>Did you hate him?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I liked him very much.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Tatlock turns back to the books.</scene_description>
    <character>TATLOCK</character>
    <dialogue>You just needed to get laid.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Wow. Took my analysts two years, and I'm not sure they ever put it that succinctly.</dialogue>
    <character>TATLOCK</character>
    <dialogue>You had them convinced you're more complicated than you really are.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>We're all simple souls, I guess.</dialogue>
    <character>TATLOCK</character>
    <dialogue>Not me.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She pulls a book from the shelf: THE BHAGAVAD GITA. She opens the book to find INCOMPREHENSIBLE CHARACTERS.</scene_description>
    <character>TATLOCK</character>
    <dialogue>What's this?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Sanskrit.</dialogue>
    <character>TATLOCK</character>
    <dialogue>You can read this?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I'm learning-</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She climbs on top of me, opens the book in my face.</scene_description>
    <character>TATLOCK</character>
    <dialogue>Go on then.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I study the page as Tatlock starts to move.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>In this part, Vishnu reveals TATLOCK (CONT'D) his multi-armed self- Read the words. She points to each word as I translate...</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>'And now I am become Death...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She nods, impressed, starts moving again...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>...destroyer of worlds.'</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. NEW MEXICO -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Moving over the VAST landscape to find three tiny figures. I lead Lawrence and Frank on horseback up a mountain trail.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. CAMPSITE -- EVENING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>THUNDER. Lawrence climbs off his horse. The wind WHIPS as we set up our tent...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>It'll break before dawn. The air cools overnight. Just before dawn, the storm dies.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT./EXT. TENT -- NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Lawrence, Frank and I huddle in the BUFFETING TENT, trying to keep a fire going in the WIND and RAIN outside the tent.</scene_description>
    <character>FRANK</character>
    <dialogue>I'm getting married.</dialogue>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>Congratulations, Frank.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I look at Frank, sardonic with drink.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>To Jackie?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Frank stares at me... the tent stops buffeting...</scene_description>
    <character>FRANK</character>
    <dialogue>Yeah, to Jackie. The waitress.</dialogue>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <parenthetical>(sensing tension)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Oppie, you're right- it's letting up. I'll see if there's any stars.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Frank watches Lawrence go, then pounces-</scene_description>
    <character>FRANK</character>
    <dialogue>All your talk about the common man but Jackie's not good enough? We join the Party- you can't hide your disapproval- why? Because that's supposed to be your thing?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I haven't joined the Party, Frank. And I don't think she should've convinced you to, either-</dialogue>
    <character>FRANK</character>
    <dialogue>Half the faculty's Communist-</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Not that half.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I point in the direction Lawrence wondered off.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I'm your brother and I want you to be cautious.</dialogue>
    <character>FRANK</character>
    <dialogue>And I want to wring your neck.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I giggle at this. Frank shakes his head, then starts laughing, too. I grab Frank's shoulder. Frank looks up...</scene_description>
    <character>FRANK</character>
    <dialogue>Robert, I won't live my life afraid to make a mistake.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I hold up my hands in defeat-</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>You're happy, I'm happy.</dialogue>
    <character>FRANK</character>
    <dialogue>Then I'm happy you're happy.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. PERRO CALIENTE -- MOMENTS LATER</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I approach Lawrence, who stares up at the stars.</scene_description>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>It's so clear I feel like I could see one of those dark stars you're working on...</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>You can't, that's the whole point.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>INSERT CUT: AN EXPANDING DARKNESS EATS THE STARS...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Their gravity swallows light. It's like a kind of... hole in space.</dialogue>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>Is Frank okay?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Yeah. He just has a shitty brother.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Lawrence smiles at this. Looks around, then-</scene_description>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>It's special here.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>As a kid I thought if I could find a way to combine physics and New Mexico, my life would be perfect.</dialogue>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>It's a little remote for that. Let's get some sleep.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I turn, heading to the tent. Lawrence follows.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>That mesa we saw today? One of my favorite places in the world. Tomorrow we'll climb it.</dialogue>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>What's it called?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>My response is so soft it is almost swallowed by the dark...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Los Alamos.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STREET, BERKELEY -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Tatlock and I walk down the sidewalk. I try to take her hand- she folds her arms.</scene_description>
    <character>TATLOCK</character>
    <dialogue>I wasn't expecting to see you.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I have to make an appointment?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Across the street a young man BURSTS out of the BARBER SHOP, towel across chest, NEWSPAPER in hand... the barber runs out- the young man rips off the towel, TOSSES it to him and RUNS-</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Alvarez!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I leave Tatlock on the sidewalk, take off after Alvarez-</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. BERKELEY CAMPUS -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Alvarez SPRINTS, newspaper in hand- I follow-</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CLASSROOM, BERKELEY -- CONTINUOUS</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I BURST in- Lawrence is trying to calm Alvarez-</scene_description>
    <character>ALVAREZ</character>
    <parenthetical>(breathless)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>They've done it! Hahn and Strassman in Germany...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Alvarez tosses the paper at me-</scene_description>
    <character>ALVAREZ</character>
    <dialogue>They split the uranium nucleus.</dialogue>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>How?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <parenthetical>(reading)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Bombarded it with neutrons.</dialogue>
    <character>ALVAREZ</character>
    <dialogue>Lawrence, it's fission. Nuclear fission. They've split the atom...</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>It's not possible.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I put down the paper, take up my chalk like it's a weapon, move to the board. Alvarez grabs the paper-</scene_description>
    <character>ALVAREZ</character>
    <dialogue>I'm going to try to reproduce it.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Alvarez and Lawrence leave. I write and write...</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CLASSROOM, BERKELEY -- LATER</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Lawrence enters. I turn. Point at the board.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>See. It can't be done.</dialogue>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>Very elegant. Quite clear. Just one problem...</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Where?</dialogue>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>Next door. Alvarez did it.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. RAD LAB, BERKELEY -- MOMENTS LATER</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I peer at Alvarez's oscilloscope...</scene_description>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>Theory will take you only so far.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I stand, moving away... thinking...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>During the process extra neutrons boil off. Which could be used to split other uranium atoms...</dialogue>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>A chain reaction. You're thinking what I'm thinking.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>You, me and every physicist around the world who's seen the news.</dialogue>
    <character>ALVAREZ</character>
    <dialogue>What? What're we all thinking?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>A bomb, Alvarez. A bomb.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. TATLOCK HOUSE, BERKELEY -- NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Tatlock GRABS a bouquet out of my hands-</scene_description>
    <character>TATLOCK</character>
    <dialogue>I told you, Robert, no more fucking flowers.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She dumps them in the trash. I just stare.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I don't understand what you TATLOCK (CONT'D) want from me- I don't want anything from</dialogue>
    <scene_description>you. I pause. Then, gently...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>You say that. Then you call.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Tatlock kicks at the dirt.</scene_description>
    <character>TATLOCK</character>
    <dialogue>Don't answer.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I'll always answer.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She looks up at me.</scene_description>
    <character>TATLOCK</character>
    <dialogue>Fine. But no more flowers.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She goes inside-</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Aren't you coming?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Slams the door shut behind her. I stand there.</scene_description>
    <character>CHEVALIER (O.S.)</character>
    <dialogue>You have to know when you're beaten, Robert.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I turn. Chevalier and his wife, BARBARA, wait in the car.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>It's not that simple, Haakon.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. MEETING HALL, BERKELEY -- NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Chevalier and Barbara lead me into the crowded hall. A BANNER: "FEDERATION OF ARCHITECTS, ENGINEERS, CHEMISTS AND TECHNICIANS". A man with a British accent greets us. This is ELTENTON.</scene_description>
    <character>ELTENTON</character>
    <dialogue>Chevalier, good to see you. And the illustrious Dr Oppenheimer. I'm Eltenton. Might you say a word about organized labour on campuses?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I'll try to think of something.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Eltenton guides me towards the stage...</scene_description>
    <character>ELTENTON</character>
    <dialogue>I work at Shell, we've signed up chemists and engineers...</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>That's excellent.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I spot Lomanitz, who grins and waves...</scene_description>
    <character>ELTENTON</character>
    <dialogue>So why not scientists in academia?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Sure. When do we-</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Eltenton pushes me onto the stage. People start APPLAUDING at the very sight of me. I can't quite not smile about this.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. RAD LAB, BERKELEY -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I watch Lawrence examine his cyclotron.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Teachers are unionized, Lawrence. Why not professors?</dialogue>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>Don't you have somewhere to be?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Academics have rights, too-</dialogue>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>It's not that. I have a group coming.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I'll sit in.</dialogue>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>Not this one.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The door opens. Richard TOLMAN and Vannevar BUSH enter-</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Richard. Dr Bush. What brings you two up north?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>They exchange glances with Lawrence. Awkward SILENCE. I rise, letting them off the hook-</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Richard, tell Ruth I'll be down to Pasadena Thursday.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CLASSROOM, BERKELEY -- CONTINUOUS</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>As I enter, a magazine FLAPS into my hands from across the room. Students are all reading copies...</scene_description>
    <character>SERBER</character>
    <dialogue>Your paper on black holes- it's in!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I open the magazine as I turn to a STUDENT-</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Get Hartland.</dialogue>
    <character>LOMANITZ</character>
    <dialogue>September 1st, 1939- the world's gonna remember this day...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Snyder comes in with a newspaper. Glum.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Hartland, our paper, it's in print!</dialogue>
    <character>SNYDER</character>
    <dialogue>We've been upstaged.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He holds up the paper: "HITLER INVADES POLAND".</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>During the Battle of France and the Battle of Britain...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Robb looks on intently as I turn the page on my statement...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>...I found myself increasingly out of sympathy with the policy of neutrality that Communists advocated.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>And after Hitler invaded Russia, did these Communist sympathies return?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>No. If you'll just allow me GRAY to- Mr Robb, you'll have ample</dialogue>
    <scene_description>opportunity to cross-examine.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I need to make clear that my changing opinion of Russia did not mean a sharp break with those who held different views. For a year or two during a previous marriage my wife, Kitty, had been a Communist Party member.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Behind me, on a couch, is KITTY (forty-six), listening intently...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>But when I first met her, in Pasadena in 1939, she had already disengaged from politics...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. HOUSE PARTY, TOLMAN HOUSE, PASADENA -- NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Kitty (thirty-one) watches as I EXPERTLY open the liquor cabinet-</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>This is where I keep the good stuff.</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>I thought this was the Tolmans' house.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I live with them when I'm at Caltech.</dialogue>
    <character>RUTH (O.S.)</character>
    <dialogue>You two need anything?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I turn to see RUTH TOLMAN (forty-five) looking at me, mischievous.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>We're fine, Ruthie.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(to Kitty)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>You're a biologist?</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>Somehow I graduated to housewife. Can you explain quantum mechanics to me? It seems baffling.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>It is. This glass-</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I thump a glass onto the cabinet- pour a drink-</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>This drink-</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I hand her the glass- fingers touching...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Our bodies... are mostly empty space- groupings of tiny energy waves bound together.</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>By what?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Forces of attraction strong enough to convince us that matter is solid...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I push the palm of my hand up against hers.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>And stop my body passing through yours.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Kitty pushes her fingers through mine, interlacing our hands. I look at a GREY-HAIRED MAN in conversation with Tolman...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>You're married to Dr Harrison.</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>Not very.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Well, there's someone that I...</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>Does she feel the same way?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Sometimes. Not often enough.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>As Ruth looks our way I let Kitty's hand go.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I'm going to New Mexico, to my ranch. With friends. You should come.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Kitty looks meaningfully over her glass at me.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I meant with your husband.</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>Yes, you did. Because you know it won't make a bit of difference.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. PERRO CALIENTE -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Kitty and I THUNDER along on horseback, climbing a ridge. I shout ahead to Kitty-</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Why did you marry him?!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Kitty pulls up. I come alongside.</scene_description>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>I was lost. He was kind.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Lost?</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>My previous husband died. At twenty- eight I wasn't ready to be a widow.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Kitty DISMOUNTS. I follow.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Who was your first husband?</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>Nobody. But my second husband was Joe Dallet.</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>From money, like me, but he was a union organizer in Youngstown, Ohio. I fell hard.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>How hard?</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>Hard enough to spend four years living off beans and pancakes, handing out the Daily Worker at factory gates.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Kitty takes out a hip flask. SWIGS.</scene_description>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>By '36 I told Joe I couldn't take it anymore, quit the Party and joined my parents swanning around Europe. A year later I said I wanted him back. Him, not the Daily Worker. He said 'Swell, I'll meet you on my way to Spain.'</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She hands me the flask. I take a drink.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>He went to fight for the loyalists?</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>On his way we reconciled. One beautiful week in Paris. Then he went to the brigades and I waited. One day Steve Nelson turns up in the lobby of the hotel to tell me Joe got himself killed first time he popped out of his trench.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Who's Steve Nelson?</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>Head of the Communist Party in San Francisco. You don't know him?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I'm not a Communist.</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>You seem to know a lot of 'em.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Including you.</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <parenthetical>(shakes head)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Ideology got Joe killed. For nothing.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>The Spanish Republic isn't nothing.</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>My husband offered both our futures to stop one fascist bullet embedding itself in a mudbank. That's the definition of nothing.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>That seems a little reductive-</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>Pragmatic. Steve and his wife brought me home with them to Chicago, then set me up with husband number three. Now here I am...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She looks around at the wilderness...</scene_description>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>Wherever the hell this is-</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I grab her. Kiss her, hard.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. TATLOCK'S BEDROOM -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Tatlock and I sit on the floor, backs to the bed like kids. Tatlock has been crying.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I didn't want you to hear it from someone else.</dialogue>
    <character>TATLOCK</character>
    <dialogue>You didn't bring flowers. That's something.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I reach into my pocket- she GRABS the small posy from me, TOSSING it aside.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Jean, we both know I'm not what you want.</dialogue>
    <character>TATLOCK</character>
    <dialogue>Yeah. But it's a door closing.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Not as far as I'm concerned.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Tatlock looks at me. Appreciating the sentiment.</scene_description>
    <character>TATLOCK</character>
    <dialogue>You knocked her up. Fast work.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Can't keep a good man down.</dialogue>
    <character>TATLOCK</character>
    <dialogue>I meant her. She knew what she wanted. What about the husband?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>We spoke. He's divorcing her so we can get married before she's showing.</dialogue>
    <character>TATLOCK</character>
    <dialogue>How civilized, you idiot. This is your community- you think rules don't apply to the golden boy?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Brilliance makes up for a lot.</dialogue>
    <character>TATLOCK</character>
    <dialogue>Don't alienate the only people in the world who understand what you do. One day you might need them.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. RAD LAB, BERKELEY -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I write "F.A.E.C.T." on the board, Lomanitz hands out FLIERS. Lawrence enters, GRABBING a flyer from the nearest student: "UNIONIZE THE RADIATION LAB".</scene_description>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>Lomanitz? What do you make a month?</dialogue>
    <character>LOMANITZ</character>
    <parenthetical>(sheepish)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>A hundred and fifty dollars.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Lawrence turns to another student-</scene_description>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>How are the working conditions?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>That's not the point, Lawrence.</dialogue>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>What do you have in common with dock workers and farm labourers?</dialogue>
    <character>LOMANITZ</character>
    <dialogue>Plenty-</dialogue>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>Right. Everybody out. Now!</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(to me)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Not you.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The students file out. Lawrence SLAMS the door- turns on me-</scene_description>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>What're you doing?!</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>It's a trade union-</dialogue>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>Full of Communists!</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>So? I haven't joined the Party-</dialogue>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>They won't let me bring you onto the project because of this shit! They won't even let me tell you what the project is-</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I know what the fucking project is, Lawrence! We all heard about Einstein and Szilard's letter to Roosevelt. Warning him the Germans could make a bomb. And I know what it means for the Nazis to have a bomb.</dialogue>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>I don't?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>It's not your people they're herding into camps! It's mine!</dialogue>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>You think I tell them about your politics? Next time you're coming home from a meeting, take a look in the rear-view mirror.</dialogue>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>Listen for sounds on your phone line. And stop being so goddamn naïve.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I'm taken aback by this...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Why would they care what I do?</dialogue>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>Because you're not just self- important, you're actually important.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I see the reality. Shift gears-</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I get it. You don't have to worry. I get it.</dialogue>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>You just need to be more- OPPENHEIMER</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Pragmatic. It's done, Lawrence. I'll talk to Lomanitz and the others. You don't have to worry. Lawrence looks at me. Sees this is real.</scene_description>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>Then welcome to the war.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>I filled out my first security questionnaire...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I glance up from my notes.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>...and was informed that my involvement in left-wing groups would not prove a bar to my work on the atomic programme.</dialogue>
    <character>SENATOR PASTORE (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Why were his Communist associations not seen as a security risk during the war?</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SENATE COMMITTEE HEARING ROOM -- DAY (B&amp;W)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Strauss suppresses his irritation at the line of questioning.</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Senator, I can't possibly answer for a security clearance granted years before I even met the man.</dialogue>
    <character>SENATOR PASTORE</character>
    <dialogue>Fine. What about after?</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>After the war, Dr Oppenheimer was the most respected scientific voice in the world. That's why I asked him to run the Institute, that's why he advised the Atomic Energy Commission. Simple as that.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SENATE OFFICE -- DAY (B&amp;W)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Strauss paces-</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>What are they accusing me of?</dialogue>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>I think they just want to know what happened between 1947 and 1954 to change your mind on Oppenheimer's security clearance.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>I didn't. I was the AEC Chairman, but it wasn't me who brought the charges against Robert.</dialogue>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>Who did?</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Some former staff member of the Joint Congressional Committee-</dialogue>
    <scene_description>INSERT CUT: A YOUNG MAN LEAFS THROUGH A FILE, COLLECTING HIS THOUGHTS... THIS IS WILLIAM BORDEN... HE STARTS TYPING...</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>A rabid anti-Communist named Borden. He wrote to the FBI demanding they take action.</dialogue>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>The FBI? Why not come to the AEC direct?</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Why get caught holding the knife yourself?</dialogue>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>What did Borden have against Oppenheimer?</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>This was the McCarthy era- people hounded out of jobs for any hint of red... reading Oppenheimer's security file- his Communist brother, sister-in-law, fiancée, best friend, wife... that's before you even get to the Chevalier incident.</dialogue>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>But how would Borden have access to Oppenheimer's security file?</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Someone gave it to him. Someone who wanted Oppenheimer silenced.</dialogue>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>Who?</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Who knows? Robert didn't take care not to upset the power brokers in Washington. His opinions on the atom became definitive and he wasn't always patient with us mere mortals. I came in for plenty of harsh treatment. There was an AEC vote on the export of isotopes to Norway...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CONGRESSIONAL HEARING ROOM -- DAY (B&amp;W)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Oppenheimer sits at the witness table with Joe VOLPE, the AEC lawyer. Strauss is in the audience.</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>They drafted in Robert to make me look like a fool...</dialogue>
    <character>CONGRESSMAN</character>
    <dialogue>But, Dr Oppenheimer, one member of the AEC board thinks these isotopes could be useful to our enemies in the production of atomic weapons.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Congressman, you could use a shovel in making atomic weapons, in fact, you do. You could use a bottle of beer in making atomic weapons. In fact, you do.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>LAUGHTER. Strauss squirms, embarrassed.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Isotopes aren't as useful as electronic components, but more useful than a sandwich. I'd put them somewhere in between.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Volpe looks at Strauss, who SMILES, GOOD-HUMOURED...</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Genius is no guarantee of wisdom. How could this man who saw so much be so blind?</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. OPPENHEIMER HOUSE, BERKELEY -- NIGHT (COLOUR)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I come in. The lights are off. A BABY'S CRIES echo...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Kitty?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She is in the dining room, in the dark, drink in hand.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Kitty, the project- I'm in.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She sips. SLIDES her drink down the table at me-</scene_description>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>Let's celebrate.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>As the baby CRIES, Kitty comes to me, pulling at my clothes-</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Don't you need to go to him?</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>I've been going to him all fucking day...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She moves to kiss my neck- I look upstairs- she PUSHES me away- GRABS her drink...</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT./INT. CHEVALIER HOUSE -- NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I carry the crying infant, PETER, to the front door. Knock. Barbara opens it- sees my distraught face and takes Peter.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. LIVING ROOM, CHEVALIER HOUSE -- MOMENTS LATER</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Chevalier hands me a drink. I stare into the liquid.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I'm ashamed to ask.</dialogue>
    <character>CHEVALIER</character>
    <dialogue>Anything.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Take Peter.</dialogue>
    <character>CHEVALIER</character>
    <dialogue>Sure.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>No, for a while, Hoke. A while.</dialogue>
    <character>CHEVALIER</character>
    <dialogue>Does Kitty know you're here?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <parenthetical>(I laugh)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Of course she fucking knows! We're awful. Selfish, awful people...</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(I down drink)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Forget I asked-</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Chevalier puts out a hand to stop me rising...</scene_description>
    <character>CHEVALIER</character>
    <dialogue>Robert, you see beyond the world we live in. There's a price to be paid for that. Of course we'll help.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. NEW MEXICO -- EVENING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Kitty and I GALLOP through the trees, EMERGING into the twilight overlooking a valley. Kitty turns to the wind.</scene_description>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>Everything's changing, Robert.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Having a child was always- KITTY</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(impatient)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>The world is pivoting in some new direction... reforming... this is your moment.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>We're putting together a KITTY (CONT'D) group to study feasibility- 'We' shouldn't be doing</dialogue>
    <scene_description>anything. You should. Lawrence won't get this done. Or Tolman, or Rabi. You will.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. PRESIDENT'S DINING HALL, BERKELEY -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A crowded and lavish lunch. I notice a large man in ARMY UNIFORM, Colonel GROVES, sitting next to another soldier (NICHOLS) with Bush and Tolman. I sidle up to Lawrence at the buffet.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Who's the uniform?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The husky GROVES spills sauce on his tunic, wipes at it.</scene_description>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>I thought you might know.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CLASSROOM, BERKELEY -- AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I am working. Groves and Lieutenant Colonel NICHOLS enter.</scene_description>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Dr Oppenheimer. I'm Colonel Groves, this is Lieutenant Colonel Nichols.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Groves pulls off his uniform jacket, TOSSES it to Nichols.</scene_description>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Get that dry-cleaned.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I watch Nichols leave.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>If that's how you treat a lieutenant colonel, I'd hate to see how you treat a humble physicist.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>If I ever meet one I'll let you know.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Ouch.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Theatres of combat all over the world- but I have to stay in Washington.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Why?</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>I built the Pentagon. The brass likes it so much they made me take over the Manhattan Engineer District.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Which is?</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Don't be a smart-ass. You know damn well what it is- you and half of every physics department across America. That's problem number one.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I thought problem number one would be securing enough uranium ore.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Twelve hundred tons. Bought the day I took charge.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Processing?</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Just broke ground at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Now I'm looking for a project director.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>And my name came up.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Nope. Even though you brought quantum physics to America. That made me curious.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>What have you found out?</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>You're a dilettante, womanizer, suspected Communist-</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I'm a New Deal Democrat-</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>I said 'suspected'. Unstable, theatrical, egotistical, neurotic.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Nothing good? Not even 'he's brilliant, but'...?</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Brilliance is taken for granted in your circles. So, no. Only one person said anything good- Richard Tolman. He thinks you've got integrity. But Tolman strikes me as someone who knows science better than people.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Yet here you are. You don't take much on trust.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>I don't take anything on trust. Why don't you have a Nobel Prize?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Why aren't you a general?</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>They're making me one for this.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Maybe I'll have the same luck.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>A Nobel Prize for making a bomb?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Alfred Nobel invented dynamite.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>So how would you proceed?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>You're talking about turning theory into a practical weapons system faster than the Nazis.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Who have a twelve-month head start.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Eighteen.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>How could you possibly know that?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Our fast neutron research took six months- the man they've undoubtedly put in charge will have made that leap instantly.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Who do you think they put in charge?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Werner Heisenberg. He has the most intuitive understanding of atomic structure I've ever seen.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>You know his work?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I know him. Just like I know Walther Bothe. Von Weizsäcker. Diebner. In a straight race, the Germans win. We've got one hope.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Which is?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Anti-Semitism.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>What?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Hitler called quantum physics 'Jewish science'. Said it right to Einstein's face.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Our one hope is that Hitler's so blinded by hate he's denied Heisenberg proper resources. Because it'll take vast resources. Our nation's best scientists, working together- right now they're scattered.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Which gives us compartmentalization.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>All minds have to see the whole task to contribute efficiently. Poor security may cost us the race, inefficiency will. The Germans know more than us, anyway.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>The Russians don't.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Remind me- who are we at war with?</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Someone with your past doesn't want to be seen downplaying the importance of security from our Communist allies.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Point taken. But no.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>You don't get to say 'no' to me-</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>It's my job to say 'no' to you when you're wrong-</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>So you've got the job, now?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I'm considering it.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>I'm starting to see how you got your reputation. My favorite response? 'Oppenheimer couldn't run a hamburger stand.'</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I couldn't. But I can run the Manhattan Project.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I turn to the blackboard. Take up my chalk.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>There's a way to balance these things...</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(I draw)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Leave the Rad Lab here at Berkeley under Lawrence, Met Lab in Chicago under Szilard, large-scale refining- where'd you say? Tennessee... all America's industrial might and scientific innovation, connected by rail... focused on one goal, one point in space and time, coming together... here.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I have drawn a cross at the centre of the diagram.</scene_description>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>And where's that?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>INSERT CUT: A BARBED-WIRE FENCE IS STRUNG OUT...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>A secret labouratory. In the middle of nowhere. Self-sufficient. Secure. Equipment, housing, the works. We keep everyone there till it's done.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>INSERT CUT: A SCHOOLHOUSE IS ERECTED. A CHURCH. A STORE...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>It'll need a school, stores, a church...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. TRAIN, BERKELEY TO WASHINGTON, DC -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I talk to Groves as Nichols looks on...</scene_description>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Why?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>If we don't let scientists bring their families, we'll never get the best. You want security? Build a town, and build it fast.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Where?</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. CAR, LOS ALAMOS -- CONTINUOUS</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Groves emerges, squinting into the brightness, taking in the stark beauty. I greet him, arms spread wide.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Welcome to Los Alamos. There's a boys' school we'll have to commandeer, and the local Indians come up here for burial rites. Other than that, nothing for forty miles any direction. And south- east, hundreds of miles of desert. Enough to find the perfect spot.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>For?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Success.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Groves scans the horizon. Sniffs the air... turns to Nichols.</scene_description>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Build him a town. Fast.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(to Oppenheimer)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Let's go recruit some scientists.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. TRAIN, SANTA FE TO BOSTON -- NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I watch Groves go over a file.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>How much can I tell them?</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <parenthetical>(without looking up)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>As much as you like, till you feel my boot on your balls.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. LECTURE HALL, HARVARD -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Groves and I sit talking to BAINBRIDGE and DONALD.</scene_description>
    <character>BAINBRIDGE</character>
    <dialogue>I'm not a soldier, Oppie.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Soldier? He's a general-</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(jab my thumb at Groves)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I got all the soldier I need. Maybe too much. I'm here because you know isotopes, and you-</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(to Donald)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>know explosives better than anyone.</dialogue>
    <character>DONALD</character>
    <dialogue>But you can't tell us what you're doing?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I glance at Groves. Then CROSS my legs.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>It's about unleashing the strong force before the Nazis do.</dialogue>
    <character>BAINBRIDGE</character>
    <dialogue>Oh my God.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CORRIDOR, MIT -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Groves and I walk with CONDON.</scene_description>
    <character>CONDON</character>
    <dialogue>Why? Why would I leave my family?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I told you, bring your family.</dialogue>
    <character>CONDON</character>
    <dialogue>Why would we go to the middle of nowhere for who knows how long?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>A year or two. Or three.</dialogue>
    <character>CONDON</character>
    <dialogue>Why would you think I'd do that?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Groves SNAPS like a bulldog-</scene_description>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Why? Why? How about because this is the most important fucking thing that's ever happened in the history of the world? How about that?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I look at Groves, then SHRUG at Condon.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. OFFICE, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN -- NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Groves and I sit across the desk from a CONCERNED SCIENTIST.</scene_description>
    <character>CONCERNED SCIENTIST</character>
    <dialogue>Robert, I hear you. I hear you.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Concerned Scientist GLANCES at Groves then DROPS his gaze.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>General, could you give us a minute?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Groves looks at me. Gets up and goes.</scene_description>
    <character>CONCERNED SCIENTIST</character>
    <dialogue>They're not gonna let someone like me onto this project. And failing a security check isn't gonna be good for a career even after the war.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>So you're a fellow traveler, so what? This is a national emergency. I've got some skeletons, and they've put me in charge. They need us.</dialogue>
    <character>CONCERNED SCIENTIST</character>
    <dialogue>Until they don't.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. QUADRANGLE, PRINCETON -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Groves and I flank FEYNMAN as he hurries across the quad-</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Heisenberg, Diebner, Bothe, Bohr... what do these men have in common?</dialogue>
    <character>FEYNMAN</character>
    <dialogue>The greatest minds on atomic theory.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>And?</dialogue>
    <character>FEYNMAN</character>
    <dialogue>I don't know...</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>The Nazis have them.</dialogue>
    <character>FEYNMAN</character>
    <dialogue>Niels Bohr is in Copenhagen.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Under Nazi occupation. Did they stop printing newspapers in Princeton?</dialogue>
    <character>FEYNMAN</character>
    <dialogue>Niels won't work for the Nazis.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>No. Never. But while they have him, we don't. So I need you.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. TRAIN, PRINCETON TO SANTA FE -- NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Groves is napping. I just start talking.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Is there any chance of getting Bohr out of Denmark?</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>No dice. I checked with the British. Until we get Allied boots back onto the continent there's no way. Is he that important?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>INSERT CUT: BOHR GESTICULATES WITH THE POISONED APPLE.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>How many people do you know who've proven Einstein wrong?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The train BUMPS. I look out the window, impatient.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>It'd be quicker to take a plane.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>We can't risk a plane. America needs us.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. LOS ALAMOS UNDER CONSTRUCTION -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Dressed in ARMY UNIFORM, I show Rabi and Condon the CHAOTIC SNOWY and MUDDY mesa. CONSTRUCTION CREWS at work. Feynman approaches-</scene_description>
    <character>FEYNMAN</character>
    <dialogue>The Harvard guys say the building's too small for their cyclotron.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <parenthetical>(to Condon)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Get 'em together with the architects.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Condon hurries off with Feynman. Rabi turns to me.</scene_description>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>When's this place supposed to open?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Two months.</dialogue>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <parenthetical>(shakes head)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Robert, you're the great improviser, but this you can't do in your head...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CONSTRUCTION CABIN, LOS ALAMOS -- MOMENTS LATER</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I draw on the board.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Four divisions- Experimental, Theoretical, Metallurgical, Ordnance.</dialogue>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>Who's running Theoretical?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I am.</dialogue>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>That's what I was afraid of. You're spread too thin.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>So you take Theoretical.</dialogue>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>I'm not coming here, Robert.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Why not?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Rabi, seldom at a loss for words, is lost for words...</scene_description>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>You drop a bomb and it falls on the just and the unjust. I don't wish the culmination of three centuries of physics to be a weapon of mass destruction.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Izzy, I don't know if we can be trusted with such a weapon, but I know the Nazis can't. We have no choice.</dialogue>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>Well, the second thing you have to do is appoint Hans Bethe to head the Theoretical division.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Wait, what was the first?</dialogue>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>Take off that ridiculous uniform- you're a scientist.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>General Groves is insisting we join.</dialogue>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>Tell Groves to shit in his hat. They need us for who we are. So be yourself, only... better.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. OPPENHEIMER'S OFFICE, LOS ALAMOS -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I pull on a jacket. Run a hand through newly shorn close- cropped dark hair. Put on a PORK PIE HAT. Pick up my pipe...</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. LOS ALAMOS UNDER CONSTRUCTION -- MOMENTS LATER</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I walk the main drag like a SHERIFF, nodding at construction workers as I pass... THE ICONIC J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. RAD LAB, BERKELEY -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I look down onto the bustle of students. Lomanitz looks up and waves- then is ERASED by WHITEWASH as workers COVER the windows... Serber hands me a key.</scene_description>
    <character>SERBER</character>
    <dialogue>This is the only key. Teller's here already. Shall I show him in?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>No, wait for the others-</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The door BURSTS OPEN and a stooped, slightly heavy young man shuffles in. This is EDWARD TELLER.</scene_description>
    <character>TELLER</character>
    <dialogue>Let's get started.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Hello, Edward.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SAME -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I sit at the front, one long leg tucked under my ass. The scientists include Lawrence, Serber, Teller, BETHE, Condon, Tolman, Feynman, Donald, Bainbridge, NEDDERMEYER and Alvarez.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>We'll work here until the T-section at Los Alamos is finished-</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I see Teller waving a piece of paper-</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Edward, can I get through my summary?</dialogue>
    <character>TELLER</character>
    <dialogue>This is more important.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Teller's paper is passed around the room, scientists PALING...</scene_description>
    <character>TELLER</character>
    <dialogue>Calculating chain reactions... I found a rather troubling possibility.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Hans Bethe hands me the paper, turns to Teller.</scene_description>
    <character>BETHE</character>
    <dialogue>That can't be right. Show me how you did your calculations.</dialogue>
    <character>TELLER</character>
    <dialogue>Of course.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I look up from the paper, grave. Teller watches the ruckus he's caused with evident satisfaction. Bethe approaches.</scene_description>
    <character>BETHE</character>
    <dialogue>Oppie, this is fantasy. Teller's calculations cannot be right.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Do them yourself while I go to Princeton.</dialogue>
    <character>BETHE</character>
    <dialogue>What for?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>To talk to Einstein.</dialogue>
    <character>BETHE</character>
    <dialogue>There's not much common ground between you two.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>That's why I should get his view.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. WOODS, PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I walk through the trees, gaining on two figures. The two men turn. One of them is Einstein.</scene_description>
    <character>EINSTEIN</character>
    <dialogue>Dr Oppenheimer. Have you met Kurt Gödel? We walk here most days.</dialogue>
    <character>GÖDEL</character>
    <dialogue>Trees are the most inspiring structures.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Albert, might I have a word?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Einstein senses the gravity. Nods. We leave Gödel staring up at the bare trees.</scene_description>
    <character>EINSTEIN</character>
    <dialogue>Some days Kurt refuses to eat. Even in Princeton, he's convinced the Nazis can poison his food.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. LAKE, INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY -- MOMENTS LATER</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Einstein and I emerge from the trees. I pull a piece of paper from my breast pocket. Einstein takes it.</scene_description>
    <character>EINSTEIN</character>
    <dialogue>Whose work is this?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Teller's.</dialogue>
    <character>EINSTEIN</character>
    <dialogue>And what do you take it to mean?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Neutron smashes into nucleus releasing neutrons to smash into other nuclei...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>INSERT CUT: DARKNESS SPLIT BY GLOWING PARTICLES FIRING INTO EACH OTHER IN AN INCREASINGLY VIOLENT DISPLAY...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Criticality- the point of no return- massive explosive force... but the chain reaction doesn't stop...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Einstein studies the paper... he nods.</scene_description>
    <character>EINSTEIN</character>
    <dialogue>It would ignite the atmosphere.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The air around us CATCHES FIRE... THE PLANET EARTH, LONELY IN VAST DARKNESS, IS SUDDENLY ENGULFED IN FIRE.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>When we detonate an atomic device, we might start a chain reaction that destroys the world.</dialogue>
    <character>EINSTEIN</character>
    <dialogue>And here we are, lost in your quantum world of probabilities, but needing certainty.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Can you run the calculations yourself?</dialogue>
    <character>EINSTEIN</character>
    <dialogue>About the only thing you and I share is a disdain for mathematics. Who's working on it at Berkeley?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Hans Bethe.</dialogue>
    <character>EINSTEIN</character>
    <dialogue>He'll get to the truth.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>And if the truth is catastrophic?</dialogue>
    <character>EINSTEIN</character>
    <dialogue>Then you stop. And share your findings with the Nazis, so neither side destroys the world.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I turn to leave.</scene_description>
    <character>EINSTEIN</character>
    <dialogue>Robert?</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(holding out paper)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>This is yours. Not mine.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CORRIDOR, BERKELEY -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I come past the secretaries. Bethe is there, excited.</scene_description>
    <character>BETHE</character>
    <dialogue>Teller's wrong-</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I gesture SILENCE as I unlock the Rad Lab-</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. RAD LAB, BERKELEY -- CONTINUOUS</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Bethe runs to the cabinet- takes out some papers- hands them to me, excited. I start to scan them, GRINNING-</scene_description>
    <character>BETHE</character>
    <dialogue>When you narrow Teller's critical assumptions the real picture emerges-</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Bottom line?</dialogue>
    <character>BETHE</character>
    <dialogue>The chances of an uncontrolled nuclear reaction are near zero.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Near zero?</dialogue>
    <character>BETHE</character>
    <dialogue>Oppie, this is good news-</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Can you run more calculations?</dialogue>
    <character>BETHE</character>
    <dialogue>You'll get the same answer. Until we actually detonate one of these things, the best assurance you're going to get is this-</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(jabs paper)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Near zero.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Theory will take you only so far.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. OPPENHEIMER HOUSE, BERKELEY -- NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Kitty opens the door to the Chevaliers, finger to her lips - I am holding the sleeping Peter.</scene_description>
    <character>BARBARA</character>
    <parenthetical>(whispering)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>So beautiful. We miss him.</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>Want to adopt?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>She's kidding.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Kitty shakes her head, 'not kidding'. Barbara takes Peter. I lead Chevalier to the kitchen...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>We wanted to see you before we left.</dialogue>
    <character>CHEVALIER</character>
    <dialogue>For parts unknown...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. KITCHEN, OPPENHEIMER HOUSE, BERKELEY -- CONTINUOUS</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I mix a tray of martinis. Chevalier watches, distracted.</scene_description>
    <character>CHEVALIER</character>
    <dialogue>You know who I ran into the other day? Eltenton.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>The chemist from Shell? Union guy?</dialogue>
    <character>CHEVALIER</character>
    <dialogue>Yeah. He was moaning about the way we're handling the war.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>How so?</dialogue>
    <character>CHEVALIER</character>
    <dialogue>Lack of cooperation with our allies. Apparently, our government isn't sharing any research with the Russians. He said a lot of scientists think the policy's stupid.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>My hands SLOW...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Oh, yeah?</dialogue>
    <character>CHEVALIER</character>
    <dialogue>Yeah. He mentioned that if anyone had information they wanted to pass on, going around official channels, he could help...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I look up at Chevalier. Grave.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>That would be treason.</dialogue>
    <character>CHEVALIER</character>
    <dialogue>Yes, of course. I just thought you should know.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>We STARE at each other... BANG- Kitty barges in.</scene_description>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>Brat's down- where are the martinis?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She sees us having a moment...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>The discussion ended there.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I pick up the tray.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Nothing in our long-standing friendship would have led me to believe that Chevalier was actually seeking information; and I was certain he had no idea of the work on which I was engaged.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I steal a glance at Robb, then look directly at the board-</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>It has long been clear to me that I should have reported this incident at once.</dialogue>
    <character>SENATOR MCGEE (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>The Oppenheimer situation highlights the tension between scientists and the security apparatus...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SENATE COMMITTEE HEARING ROOM -- DAY (B&amp;W)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Strauss is at the witness table facing the Senate Committee.</scene_description>
    <character>SENATOR MCGEE</character>
    <dialogue>In hopes of learning how the nominee handled such issues during his time at the AEC, we'll have a scientist appearing before the Committee.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <parenthetical>(private)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Who're they bringing in?</dialogue>
    <character>COUNSEL</character>
    <parenthetical>(private)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>They haven't said.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Mr Chairman, if I may? I'm nominated for Commerce Secretary. Why seek the opinion of scientists-</dialogue>
    <character>CHAIRMAN</character>
    <dialogue>This is a Cabinet post, Admiral. We seek a wide range of opinion.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>I'd like to know the name of the scientist testifying. And I'd like the chance to cross-examine.</dialogue>
    <character>CHAIRMAN</character>
    <parenthetical>(irritated)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>This is not a court.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SENATE OFFICE -- MOMENTS LATER (B&amp;W)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The Senate Aide shows Strauss and Counsel in.</scene_description>
    <character>COUNSEL</character>
    <dialogue>Lewis, you're not on trial-</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>So everyone keeps saying.</dialogue>
    <character>COUNSEL</character>
    <dialogue>You act like a defence attorney, the Committee's gonna act like a prosecutor.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <parenthetical>(to Senate Aide)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>A formality, huh?</dialogue>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>No Presidential Cabinet nominee has failed to be confirmed since 1925. This is just how the game is played.</dialogue>
    <character>COUNSEL</character>
    <dialogue>It's in the bag, Lewis, so play nice. They bring in a scientist, so what?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Strauss gives a wry smile. Remembers- INSERT CUT: STRAUSS APPROACHES EINSTEIN AND OPPENHEIMER- EINSTEIN BLOWS PAST WITHOUT ACKNOWLEDGING STRAUSS...</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>You don't know scientists like I do, counselor. They resent anyone who questions their judgement- especially if you're not one of them...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>INSERT CUT: STRAUSS STARES- THE CROWD AT THE ISOTOPES HEARING LAUGHS...</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>I was chair of the AEC- I'm easy to blame for what happened to Robert.</dialogue>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>We can't let the Senate think that the scientific community doesn't support you.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Should we pivot?</dialogue>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>To what?</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Embrace it. 'I fought Oppenheimer and the US won'?</dialogue>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>I don't think we need to go there. Isn't there anyone we can call who knows what really happened?</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Teller.</dialogue>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>He'll make an impression.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Can you find out the name of the scientist they've called?</dialogue>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>Probably.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <parenthetical>(to Counsel)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>We get that name- you call the AEC, find out if he was based in Chicago or Los Alamos during the war.</dialogue>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>Why's that matter?</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>If he was in Chicago he worked under Szilard and Fermi, not the cult of Oppie at Los Alamos.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Robert built that damn place- he was founder, mayor, sheriff all rolled into one...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT./EXT. CAR DRIVING THROUGH LOS ALAMOS -- DAY (COLOUR)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I DRIVE Kitty and Peter through the 'town'... Kitty STARES at the newly built BASIC WOODEN STRUCTURES...</scene_description>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>All it needs is a saloon.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. OPPENHEIMER HOUSE, LOS ALAMOS -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I stand in the hall, holding Peter, NERVOUS, as Kitty inspects the house... she pokes her head back in-</scene_description>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>Robert. There's no kitchen.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Really? We'll fix that. Don't worry.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. T-SECTION, LOS ALAMOS -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I walk Bethe through the security gate.</scene_description>
    <character>BETHE</character>
    <dialogue>Barbed wire. Guns, Oppie.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>We're at war, Hans.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. LECTURE HALL, T-SECTION, LOS ALAMOS -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I step up to join Serber- throw up a slide. Condon, Neddermeyer, Kistiakowsky, Donald, Tolman, Bainbridge and Feynman, amongst other SCIENTISTS, are in attendance.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Halifax, 1917. A cargo ship carrying munitions exploded in the harbor...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>INSERT CUT: WOOD AND CONCRETE FRAGMENTS FLY...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>A vast and sudden chemical reaction...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>INSERT CUT: A SHOCKWAVE DRIFTS ACROSS THE TOPS OF THE CHOPPY WATER...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>The biggest man-made explosion in history. Let's calculate how much more destructive it would have been with a nuclear, not chemical, reaction. Expressing power in terms of tons of TNT-</dialogue>
    <character>BETHE</character>
    <dialogue>But it'll be thousands.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Then, kilotons.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I switch the lights on, step down to let Serber-</scene_description>
    <character>SERBER</character>
    <dialogue>Using U-235, the bomb-</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He sees me wave.</scene_description>
    <character>SERBER</character>
    <dialogue>Sorry- the gadget will need a thirty-three-pound sphere, about this size...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Serber reaches below the table, brings up a GOLDFISH BOWL-</scene_description>
    <character>SERBER</character>
    <dialogue>Or using plutonium, a ten-pound sphere...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He puts a large BRANDY GLASS next to the aquarium.</scene_description>
    <character>SERBER</character>
    <dialogue>Here's the amount of uranium Oak Ridge refined all of last month.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Serber drops THREE MARBLES into the bowl. The scientists stare at the almost-empty goldfish bowl.</scene_description>
    <character>SERBER</character>
    <dialogue>The Hanford plant made this much plutonium...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He drops TWO MARBLES into the brandy glass.</scene_description>
    <character>SERBER</character>
    <dialogue>If we can enrich these amounts... we need a way to detonate them.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Teller is at the back folding a paper plane.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Are we boring you, Edward?</dialogue>
    <character>TELLER</character>
    <parenthetical>(without looking up)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Yes.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>May I ask why?</dialogue>
    <character>TELLER</character>
    <dialogue>We came into this room knowing a fission bomb was possible. Let's leave it with something new.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Such as?</dialogue>
    <character>TELLER</character>
    <dialogue>A 'super' atomic bomb. Instead of uranium, or plutonium, we use hydrogen.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>MURMURS of dissent-</scene_description>
    <character>TELLER</character>
    <parenthetical>(shutting them down)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Heavy hydrogen- deuterium. We compact the atoms together under great force and induce a fusion reaction. Not kilotons... megatons.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>A HUBBUB develops- I process quickly, then-</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Hang on. How do you generate enough force to fuse hydrogen atoms?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Teller smiles a self-satisfied smile.</scene_description>
    <character>TELLER</character>
    <dialogue>A small fission bomb.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>GROANS all around...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Well, since you're going to need one, anyway... can we get back to the business at hand?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Teller SHRUGS.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SENATE COMMITTEE HEARING ROOM -- DAY (B&amp;W)</stage_direction>
    <character>SENATOR BARTLETT</character>
    <dialogue>Mr Strauss, the isotopes issue wasn't your most important policy disagreement with Dr Oppenheimer. It was the Hydrogen bomb, wasn't it?</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>We did disagree about the need for an H-bomb programme.</dialogue>
    <character>SENATOR BARTLETT</character>
    <dialogue>Tell us how that came to pass.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>As Strauss REMEMBERS we hear a SIREN and we-</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. NEW YORK STREET -- NIGHT (B&amp;W)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Strauss is in a car, barreling along behind a POLICE ESCORT-</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. HOTEL, NEW YORK -- NIGHT (B&amp;W)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Strauss and his ASSISTANT rush down the corridor to a door-</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. HOTEL CONFERENCE ROOM -- NIGHT (B&amp;W)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Strauss enters- a table surrounded by AEC members- Oppenheimer is slouched at the table, pipe blazing, Bush presides... Strauss removes his overcoat, revealing a tuxedo...</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>What do we know?</dialogue>
    <character>BUSH</character>
    <dialogue>One of our B-29s over the north Pacific picked up radiation.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Rabi uses a compass to indicate an area on the map...</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Do you have the filter papers?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>There's no doubt what this is.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>The White House says there's doubt.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Oppenheimer begrudgingly slides them over to Strauss.</scene_description>
    <character>BUSH</character>
    <dialogue>Wishful thinking, I'm afraid.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>It's an atomic test.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>The Soviets have a bomb? We're supposed to be years ahead of them. What were you guys doing at Los Alamos? Wasn't the security tight?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Of course it was- you weren't NICHOLS (O.S.) there, Lewis. Forgive me, doctor... Strauss leans around the FLOWERS in the centre of the table to see who is speaking- Nichols, now a civilian.</dialogue>
    <character>NICHOLS</character>
    <dialogue>But I was there.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. T-SECTION, LOS ALAMOS -- DAY (COLOUR)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Condon, Nichols and I watch cars pull up. Groves emerges.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Welcome back.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Progress?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>INSERT CUT: MARBLES DROP INTO THE GOLDFISH BOWL.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>It's nice to see you, too.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Meet the British contingent.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>SCIENTISTS emerge. A THIN YOUNG MAN offers his hand-</scene_description>
    <character>FUCHS</character>
    <parenthetical>(German accent)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Dr Oppenheimer, Klaus Fuchs.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>How long have you been British?</dialogue>
    <character>FUCHS</character>
    <dialogue>Since Hitler told me I wasn't German.</dialogue>
    <character>INT. LECTURE HALL, T-SECTION, LOS ALAMOS -- DAY</character>
    <dialogue>Bethe, Teller, Condon, Kistiakowsky, Donald, Bainbridge, Fuchs and Feynman and other scientists listen to-</dialogue>
    <character>SERBER</character>
    <dialogue>I call it 'shooting'- we fire a chunk of fissionable material into the larger sphere with enough force to achieve criticality.</dialogue>
    <character>INSERT CUT: A URANIUM "BULLET" IS FIRED INTO A SPHERE-</character>
    <dialogue>TOLMAN</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I've been thinking about implosion. Explosives around the sphere blast inwards, crushing the material.</scene_description>
    <character>INSERT CUT: A SPHERICAL ARRAY OF EXPLOSIVES BLASTS INWARD-</character>
    <dialogue>NEDDERMEYER</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I'd like to investigate that idea.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I'll talk to the Ordinance division- we'll get you blowing things up...</dialogue>
    <character>EXT. "MAIN STREET", LOS ALAMOS -- DAY</character>
    <dialogue>Condon, Nichols and I show Groves the GROWING TOWN...</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>School's up and running. I thought of a way to reduce support staff...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I open the door to the cabin containing my office- 8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. OUTER OFFICE -- CONTINUOUS</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Groves notices the YOUNG WOMAN working behind the desk-</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. OPPENHEIMER'S OFFICE, LOS ALAMOS -- CONTINUOUS</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I slump into my chair. Groves is perplexed-</scene_description>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Is that...?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Mrs Serber. I've offered jobs to all the wives. Admin, librarians, computation. We cut down on staff and keep families together.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Are these women qualified?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Don't be absurd. These are some of the brightest minds in our community.</dialogue>
    <character>CONDON</character>
    <dialogue>And they're already security cleared.</dialogue>
    <character>NICHOLS</character>
    <dialogue>I've informed General Groves you've been holding cross-divisional open discussions-</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Shut 'em down. CONDON Compartmentalization is the It's only the top men. key to maintaining security-</dialogue>
    <character>NICHOLS</character>
    <dialogue>Who, presumably, communicate with subordinates.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>These men aren't stupid, they can be discreet.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>I don't like it.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>You don't like anything enough for there to be a fair test.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Groves shrugs. Gets up to leave. Nichols rolls his eyes.</scene_description>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Once a week. Top men only.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I'd like to bring my brother here.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>No.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Groves and Condon leave- I corner Nichols-</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I still haven't heard that my security clearance has been approved.</dialogue>
    <character>NICHOLS</character>
    <dialogue>It hasn't.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>We're going to Chicago tomorrow-</dialogue>
    <character>NICHOLS</character>
    <dialogue>You should wait.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>You're aware that the Nazis have a two-year head start?</dialogue>
    <character>NICHOLS</character>
    <dialogue>Dr Oppenheimer, the fact that your security clearance is proving difficult to obtain is not my fault. It's yours.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>It may not be your fault, but it's your problem. Because I'm going.</dialogue>
    <character>CUT TO:</character>
    <dialogue>INT. HOTEL CONFERENCE ROOM -- NIGHT (B&amp;W)</dialogue>
    <dialogue>Strauss reaches to the centre of the table to move the flowers from between him and Nichols-</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>How many people were in the open discussions?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>NICHOLS</character>
    <dialogue>Too many. Compartmentalization was supposed to be the protocol.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>We were in a race against the Nazis-</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Well, now the race is against the Soviets.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Only if we start it.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Strauss holds up the filter papers.</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Robert, they just fired the starting gun. What's the nature of the device they detonated?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>The data indicates it may have been a plutonium implosion device.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Like the one you built at Los Alamos?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Oppenheimer nods reluctantly...</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>If the Soviets have a bomb, Truman needs to know what's next.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Bush nods. Oppenheimer looks incredulous-</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>What's next? Arms talks. Obviously.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <parenthetical>(to Bush)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>What about the Super? Does Truman even know about it?</dialogue>
    <character>BUSH</character>
    <dialogue>Not specifically.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>We still don't know if a Hydrogen bomb is technically feasible.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>My understanding is that Teller first proposed it at Los Alamos.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>His designs have always been wildly impractical. You'd have to deliver by ox-cart not airplane.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>If it could put us ahead again, Truman needs to know about it. And if there's a possibility that the Russians know about it from a spy at Los Alamos... we've gotta get going.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>There's no proof there was a spy at Los Alamos.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Strauss holds up the filter papers, raises his eyebrows...</scene_description>
    <character>CUT TO:</character>
    <dialogue>EXT. FOOTBALL STADIUM, CHICAGO -- DAY (COLOUR)</dialogue>
    <dialogue>Condon and I are led across the field by J. Ernest WILKINS...</dialogue>
    <character>CONDON</character>
    <dialogue>They put it under the football stadium?</dialogue>
    <character>WILKINS</character>
    <dialogue>The field's not in use, anymore.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Just as well.</dialogue>
    <character>INT. ATOMIC PILE, UNDERNEATH THE STADIUM, CHICAGO -- DAY</character>
    <dialogue>Wilkins shows us to SZILARD and FERMI. A scientist with GLASSES takes notes. The group approaches the atomic pile...</dialogue>
    <character>FERMI</character>
    <dialogue>I hear you've got a little town.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Come and see.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>SZILARD</character>
    <dialogue>Who could think straight in a place like that? Everybody will go crazy.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Thanks for the vote of confidence, Szilard.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I spot Glasses SCRIBBLING - I GRAB his pen- he FLINCHES-</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>We really need that in the notes?</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(to Fermi)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>When are you going to try it out?</dialogue>
    <character>FERMI</character>
    <dialogue>We already did. The first self- sustaining nuclear chain reaction. Didn't Groves tell you?</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. T-SECTION, LOS ALAMOS -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Condon and I have just passed through-</scene_description>
    <character>HORNIG</character>
    <dialogue>Dr Oppenheimer! I tried personnel.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>We turn to see a twenty-three-year-old young woman on the other side of the barrier. This is Lilli HORNIG.</scene_description>
    <character>HORNIG</character>
    <dialogue>They asked if I could type.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Can you?</dialogue>
    <character>HORNIG</character>
    <dialogue>Harvard forgot to teach that on the graduate chemistry course.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I smile at this. Turn to Condon.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Put Mrs Hornig on the plutonium team.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CYCLOTRON BUILDING, LOS ALAMOS -- CONTINUOUS</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Condon and I peer up at the equipment. Groves STORMS in-</scene_description>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>What the hell were you doing in Chicago?!</dialogue>
    <character>CONDON</character>
    <dialogue>Visiting the Met Lab- GROVES</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Why?! Condon looks at me. I say nothing. He turns to Groves-</scene_description>
    <character>CONDON</character>
    <dialogue>You can't talk to us like GROVES (CONT'D) this. We have every right- You have just the rights I</dialogue>
    <scene_description>give you! No more, no less.</scene_description>
    <character>CONDON</character>
    <dialogue>This is ridiculous- we're adults, trying to run a project here.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(to me)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Tell him, Robert.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I look steadily at Groves.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Compartmentalization is the protocol we agreed to.</dialogue>
    <character>CONDON</character>
    <dialogue>You've got to be kidding me. Enough of this madhouse- nobody can work under these conditions.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(to Groves)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>You know what, Generalissimo? I quit.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(to Oppenheimer)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Thanks for nothing.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Condon storms out. Groves turns to me.</scene_description>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Better off without him.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Aren't you more worried about his discretion out there?</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>We'll have him killed.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(off Oppenheimer's look)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Kidding. He hates me, not America.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Not everyone has levers like mine to pull.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>I don't know what you mean.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>You didn't hire me despite my left- wing past, you hired me because of it. So you could control me.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>I'm not that subtle. I'm just a humble soldier.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>You're neither humble, nor 'just' a soldier. You studied engineering at MIT.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Guilty as charged.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Now that we understand each other, perhaps you'll get me my security clearance, so I can perform this miracle for you.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>General Groves looks at me. Nods.</scene_description>
    <character>GARRISON (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>General Groves, were you aware of Dr Oppenheimer's left-wing associations when you appointed him?</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Groves, in CIVILIAN CLOTHES, testifies. I watch...</scene_description>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>I was aware that there were suspicions about him... I was aware that he had a very extreme liberal background.</dialogue>
    <character>GARRISON</character>
    <dialogue>In your opinion, would he ever consciously commit a disloyal act?</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>I would be amazed if he did.</dialogue>
    <character>GARRISON</character>
    <dialogue>You had complete confidence in his integrity?</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>At Los Alamos, yes, which is where I really knew him.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>General, did your security officers on the project advise against the clearance of Dr Oppenheimer?</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Truer to say they could not and would not clear him. Until I insisted...</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>You became pretty familiar with the security file on Dr Oppenheimer?</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>I did.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>General, there's really only one question we need answered here today...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Groves shifts, knowing what's about to be asked...</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>In the light of your experience of security matters and knowledge of the file...</dialogue>
    <character>EXT. T-SECTION, LOS ALAMOS -- DAY</character>
    <dialogue>I greet Lawrence and Lomanitz as they get out of a car-</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>...would you clear Dr Oppenheimer today?</dialogue>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>Physics and New Mexico, huh? But my God, what a trek.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>That's why you need a liaison.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>I'm appointing Lomanitz.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I pat Lomanitz on the shoulder.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>You're gonna be okay.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. LECTURE HALL, T-SECTION, LOS ALAMOS -- LATER</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>As the group assembles, General Groves speaks to Lawrence.</scene_description>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>I'll remind you what we talked about in Berkeley, doctor.</dialogue>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>Compartmentalization. I understand completely.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Oppenheimer theatrically drops three marbles into the quarter- full goldfish bowl, then ADDS TWO MORE- the room APPLAUDS. Oppenheimer BOWS, steps down. Lawrence BOUNCES up-</scene_description>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>Greetings from Berkeley. I'm here to update you on our progress and solicit your input. To do so I will be sharing many things that General Groves has told me not to</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(to Groves)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Well, General, I said I 'understood', not that I agreed. So, to business...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Groves looks at me. I shrug. He leaves.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. HOTEL CONFERENCE ROOM -- NIGHT (B&amp;W)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Strauss places the filter papers back down on the table...</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>There were rumours of OPPENHEIMER espionage at Los Alamos- Unsubstantiated-</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>I've heard there were OPPENHEIMER (CONT'D) Communists on the project- We didn't knowingly employ were any of them involved any Communists. with discussions of the Super?</dialogue>
    <character>NICHOLS</character>
    <dialogue>I seem to remember you demanding that your brother come to Los Alamos.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>He'd left the Party by then.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>And Lomanitz?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>He was never employed at Los Alamos, he was a liaison. Our security was tight, as former Colonel Nichols well knows.</dialogue>
    <character>NICHOLS</character>
    <dialogue>Our security was the tightest we could make it given the personalities involved. But attempts were made. Doctor, we've all read your file here. Do we need to talk about Jean Tatlock? Or the Chevalier incident?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Strauss watches Oppenheimer glare at Nichols.</scene_description>
    <character>CUT TO:</character>
    <dialogue>INT. OPPENHEIMER'S OFFICE, LOS ALAMOS -- DAY (COLOUR)</dialogue>
    <character>SECRETARY</character>
    <parenthetical>(over intercom)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>That's Lomanitz on one...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I pick up the phone-</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Lomanitz? Okay, hang on, calm down.</dialogue>
    <character>INT. COLONEL NICHOLS' OFFICE -- MOMENTS LATER</character>
    <dialogue>I stand at Nichols' desk.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>There's been another screw-up- Lomanitz just got drafted.</dialogue>
    <character>NICHOLS</character>
    <dialogue>We are at war, doctor.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Don't be an asshole, Nichols. We need this kid. Fix it, will you?</dialogue>
    <character>NICHOLS</character>
    <dialogue>It wasn't a mistake. Your friend Lomanitz has been trying to unionize the Radiation Lab.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>He promised to quit all that.</dialogue>
    <character>NICHOLS</character>
    <dialogue>Well, he hasn't. The security officer at Berkeley is concerned about Communist infiltration through that union- the... F-A...</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <parenthetical>(thinking)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>F-A-E-C-T. I'm there next week, maybe I'll drop in to see him.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Nichols TOSSES a security pass across the desk.</scene_description>
    <character>NICHOLS</character>
    <dialogue>Your Q clearance came through. It's important you not maintain or renew any questionable associations.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Doctor, did you think social contacts between a person employed on secret war work and Communists was dangerous?</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I testify, Kitty behind me...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>My awareness of the danger would be greater today.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>But it's fair to say that during the war years...</dialogue>
    <character>EXT. HOTEL, SAN FRANCISCO -- DAY</character>
    <dialogue>A TAXI pulls up. I get out, carrying a bag.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>...you felt that such contacts were potentially dangerous?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I enter, without seeing a CAR FOLLOWING. The PASSENGER jumps out, while the DRIVER checks the time, makes a note.</scene_description>
    <character>INT. HOTEL LOBBY, SAN FRANCISCO -- CONTINUOUS</character>
    <dialogue>OPPENHEIMER (V.O.)</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Were conceivably dangerous. I move to the elevators, watched by the passenger.</scene_description>
    <character>INT. CORRIDOR, HOTEL, SAN FRANCISCO -- CONTINUOUS</character>
    <dialogue>At the door to 805 I reach into my bag...</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Really? Known Communists?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>...and remove a small BUNCH OF FLOWERS. I knock...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Look, I've had a lot of secrets in my head a long time. It doesn't matter who I associate with...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The door opens to reveal JEAN TATLOCK.</scene_description>
    <character>INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION - DAY</character>
    <dialogue>OPPENHEIMER</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I don't talk about those secrets.</scene_description>
    <character>INT. ROOM 805, HOTEL, SAN FRANCISCO -- CONTINUOUS</character>
    <dialogue>Tatlock GRABS the flowers. As I follow her in, she DUMPS them in the wastebasket...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Robb refers to his papers- Kitty watches...</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>You said in your statement you 'had' to visit Jean Tatlock in 1943...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. ROOM 805, HOTEL, SAN FRANCISCO -- NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Tatlock and I sit across the room from each other, naked.</scene_description>
    <character>TATLOCK</character>
    <dialogue>You left. Not a word. What did you think that would do to me?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I wrote.</dialogue>
    <character>TATLOCK</character>
    <dialogue>Pages of nothing. Where'd you go?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I can't tell you.</dialogue>
    <character>TATLOCK</character>
    <dialogue>Why not?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Because you're a Communist.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Why did you have to see her?</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I sit at the table, self-conscious, testifying...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>She had indicated a great desire to see me before we left. At that time I couldn't. But I felt that she had to see me...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Kitty watches me testify. I am NAKED...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>She was undergoing psychiatric treatment. She was extremely unhappy.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Did you find out why she had to see you?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Because she was still in love with me.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Kitty watches Tatlock, also naked, STRADDLE me, head on my shoulder, facing Kitty...</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>You spent the night with her didn't you?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>As Tatlock GRINDS on me she locks eyes with Kitty...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Yes.</dialogue>
    <character>INT. ROOM 805, HOTEL, SAN FRANCISCO -- NIGHT</character>
    <dialogue>Tatlock studies me from across the room.</dialogue>
    <character>TATLOCK</character>
    <dialogue>You drop in and out of my life and don't have to tell me why. That's power.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Not that I enjoy. I'd rather be here for you as you need.</dialogue>
    <character>TATLOCK</character>
    <dialogue>But now you've got other priorities.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I have a wife and child.</dialogue>
    <character>TATLOCK</character>
    <dialogue>That's not what either of us is talking about.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Jean, you asked me to come. And I'm glad I did. But I can't come again.</dialogue>
    <character>TATLOCK</character>
    <dialogue>What if I need you?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I slowly shake my head. 8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>TATLOCK</character>
    <dialogue>Not a word?</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>All eyes on me, clothed and alone again...</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Did you think that consistent with good security?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Behind me, Kitty's face is stone...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>It was, as a matter of fact. Not a word.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>When did you see her after that?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>INSERT CUT: HOT BATH RUNNING. PILL BOTTLE. DOWNTURNED HEAD IN THE WATER. THE SOUND OF FEET STAMPING, STAMPING... I JAM my eyes closed, shake off the image-</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I never saw her again.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SAME -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>As the room breaks up, Kitty speaks privately to me through CLENCHED TEETH as she gathers her things. No eye contact.</scene_description>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>I can make the last train back to Princeton.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I said nothing that I hadn't already said to you, Kitty.</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>Well, today you said it to history.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>This is a closed hearing-</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>If they don't release a transcript, you will!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She DROPS her bag, spilling the contents. Garrison spots a small FLASK as Kitty sweeps it into her purse. I CROUCH-</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I was under oath.</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>You were under an oath to me when you went to see Jean.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She STANDS- I follow- she TURNS back- in my face-</scene_description>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>You sit there, day after day, letting them pick our lives to pieces. Why won't you fight?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I don't answer. She leaves. Garrison steps up.</scene_description>
    <character>GARRISON</character>
    <dialogue>Robert, I'm not putting her up there.</dialogue>
    <character>EXT. BERKELEY CAMPUS -- DAY</character>
    <dialogue>I stroll across the campus, enter an administrative building.</dialogue>
    <character>INT. LT. JOHNSON'S OFFICE -- MOMENTS LATER</character>
    <dialogue>I knock. Johnson opens the door, SURPRISED.</dialogue>
    <character>JOHNSON</character>
    <dialogue>Dr Oppenheimer, it's an honour. Please, take a seat-</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>No need. I just wanted to check whether I should talk to Lomanitz while I'm here- given your concerns.</dialogue>
    <character>JOHNSON</character>
    <dialogue>That's up to you, really, professor. But I'd be cautious.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Understood. Oh, and as far as the union goes, I wanted to give you a heads up on a man named Eltenton.</dialogue>
    <character>JOHNSON</character>
    <dialogue>A heads up?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>He might merit watching, is all.</dialogue>
    <character>JOHNSON</character>
    <dialogue>I'd love to get more details-</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I've got an appointment now, and I leave early tomorrow-</dialogue>
    <character>JOHNSON</character>
    <dialogue>Come as early as you like. Since you haven't time now.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>You went back the next morning?</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. TRAIN, SANTA FE TO CHICAGO -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Groves sits opposite. I stare out the window.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I did. I had to, really.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. LT. JOHNSON'S OFFICE -- MORNING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Johnson smiles, beckons me in. Indicates a SECOND MAN-</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>This time there was another man.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. TRAIN, SANTA FE TO CHICAGO -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I stare out the window. Groves sits opposite.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Said his name was Pash.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Pash? You met Colonel Pash?</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Alone on the couch, I glance up, NERVOUS, as a man in uniform walks past. As he sits, I study the back of his head.</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Colonel Pash, can you read from your memo of June 29th, 1943?</dialogue>
    <character>PASH</character>
    <dialogue>'Results of surveillance conducted on subject indicate further possible Communist Party connections. Subject met with and spent considerable time with one Jean Tatlock, Communist, the record of whom is attached.'</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>The subject being Dr Oppenheimer?</dialogue>
    <character>PASH</character>
    <dialogue>Yes.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Whom you had not met?</dialogue>
    <character>PASH</character>
    <dialogue>Not then, but soon after...</dialogue>
    <character>INT. TRAIN, SANTA FE TO CHICAGO -- DAY</character>
    <dialogue>OPPENHEIMER</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He's head of security for the project, shouldn't I know him?</scene_description>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>No, he should know you. I'd never put you in a room with Pash.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Why not?</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>When Pash first learned about Lomanitz- he told the FBI he was going to kidnap him, take him out on a boat, interrogate him 'in the Russian manner'...</dialogue>
    <character>INT. LT. JOHNSON'S OFFICE -- DAY</character>
    <dialogue>Pash sits down next to me, opposite Johnson.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>PASH</character>
    <dialogue>Dr Oppenheimer, this is a pleasure. General Groves has placed a certain responsibility in me, and it's like having a child, that you can't see, by remote control, so to actually meet you... I don't mean to take much of your time...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The disarming friendliness of the truly dangerous.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Not at all. Whatever time you choose.</dialogue>
    <character>PASH</character>
    <dialogue>Mr Johnson told me of your conversation yesterday, in which I'm very interested. It had me worried all day...</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I didn't want to talk to Lomanitz without authorization-</dialogue>
    <character>PASH</character>
    <dialogue>That's not the particular interest I have. It's something a little more, in my opinion, more serious...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. TRAIN, SANTA FE TO CHICAGO -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>When the FBI pointed out that such information couldn't be used in court Pash made it clear that he didn't intend to have anyone left to prosecute. The FBI talked him down, but that's the man you're dancing with.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. LT. JOHNSON'S OFFICE -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <character>PASH</character>
    <dialogue>I gather you've heard there are other parties interested in the work of the Radiation Lab...</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Well, a man attached to the Soviet Consul indicated, through intermediate people, to people on this project that he was in a position to transmit information they might supply.</dialogue>
    <character>PASH</character>
    <dialogue>Why would anyone on the project want that?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Frankly, I can see there might be arguments for the commander-in- chief informing the Russians- they're our allies. But I don't like the idea of it going out the back door- it might not hurt to be on the lookout for it.</dialogue>
    <character>INT. TRAIN, SANTA FE TO CHICAGO -- DAY</character>
    <dialogue>GROVES</dialogue>
    <scene_description>You said that to Pash?</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I was trying to put it in the context of... Russia's not Germany.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Boris Pash is the son of a Russian Orthodox bishop. Born here but in 1918 he went back to Russia to fight the Bolsheviks. This is a man who's killed Communists with his own hands.</dialogue>
    <character>INT. LT. JOHNSON'S OFFICE -- DAY</character>
    <dialogue>Pash spreads his palms...</dialogue>
    <character>PASH</character>
    <dialogue>I'm not the judge of who should or should not get information. My business is to stop it going through illegally. Could you be a little more specific?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>There's a man whose name was mentioned to me a couple of times- Eltenton. I think he's a chemist employed by Shell. He talked to a friend of his who's an acquaintance of someone on the project. To go beyond that would be to put names down of people who are not only innocent but were one hundred percent cooperative.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. TRAIN, SANTA FE TO CHICAGO -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Groves is staring at me like I just crapped my pants.</scene_description>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>You thought Pash would be satisfied with that?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I was trying to give them Eltenton without opening a can of worms. I told him a cock-and-bull story.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I am up front. Robb questioning-</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Did you lie to General Groves, too?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>No, I told him I'd lied to Pash.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SAME -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Groves is on the stand, in civilian clothes-</scene_description>
    <character>GARRISON</character>
    <dialogue>Do you recall your conversation with him about the Chevalier incident?</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>I've seen so many versions of it, I wasn't confused before, but I'm certainly getting there now.</dialogue>
    <character>GARRISON</character>
    <dialogue>What was your conclusion?</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>That he was under the influence of the typical American schoolboy attitude that there's something wicked about telling on a friend. He did what he thought was essential- disclosing Eltenton.</dialogue>
    <character>INT. SAME -- DAY</character>
    <dialogue>Pash is testifying.</dialogue>
    <character>PASH</character>
    <dialogue>The memo I wrote at the time states 'Dr Oppenheimer sought to provide information to burnish his image as loyal, clearly having heard of our investigation at Berkeley. He is not to be trusted on matters of security.'</dialogue>
    <character>INT. LT. JOHNSON'S OFFICE -- DAY</character>
    <dialogue>Pash gazes, unblinking, into my eyes...</dialogue>
    <character>PASH</character>
    <dialogue>These other people you mentioned, were they contacted by Eltenton direct?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>No.</dialogue>
    <character>PASH</character>
    <dialogue>Well now, could we know through whom that contact was made?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>It would involve people who ought not be involved in this.</dialogue>
    <character>PASH</character>
    <dialogue>Is this person a member of the project?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>A member of the faculty, but not on the project.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>PASH</character>
    <dialogue>Eltenton made the approach through a member of the faculty here at Berkeley?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>As far as I know- there may have been more than one person involved. If I seem uncooperative I think you can understand that it's because of my insistence in not getting innocent people into trouble.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Pash stares at me. I finally keep my mouth shut.</scene_description>
    <character>PASH</character>
    <dialogue>You see me as persistent-</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>You are persistent, and that is your job. But my job is protecting the people who work for me.</dialogue>
    <character>PASH</character>
    <dialogue>Instead of us going on certain steps which may come to your attention and be a little bit... disturbing to you... I'd rather discuss those with you first. I'm not formulating any plans, I'm just going to have to digest the whole thing.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I nod at Pash. Get to my feet.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. TRAIN, SANTA FE TO CHICAGO -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Groves takes in the story.</scene_description>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>You're protecting a friend. But who's protecting you?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>You could.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>If you gave me the name.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>If you order me to, I'll do it.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>You're making a mistake, Robert. A mistake that may haunt you. You need to volunteer this name.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I turn to watch the scenery trundle past.</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>And did he give you the name?</dialogue>
    <character>INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -- DAY</character>
    <dialogue>GROVES</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He did.</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>But not at that time.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>No.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>In fact, it was some months later, wasn't it?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Groves nods.</scene_description>
    <character>INT. SAME -- DAY</character>
    <dialogue>I study the back of Boris Pash's head...</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>And in the months between your interview with Dr Oppenheimer and his eventual naming of Chevalier, did you expend resources trying to find the identity of the intermediary?</dialogue>
    <character>PASH</character>
    <dialogue>Considerable resources. Without the name our job was extremely difficult.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>When did you receive the name?</dialogue>
    <character>PASH</character>
    <dialogue>I was gone by the time Oppenheimer offered it up.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Gone?</dialogue>
    <character>PASH</character>
    <dialogue>They felt my time would be better spent in Europe determining the status of the Nazi bomb project.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Who did?</dialogue>
    <character>PASH</character>
    <dialogue>General Groves. He transferred me to London.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I lift my head at this. INSERT CUT: MARBLES DROP INTO THE BOWL... THREE-QUARTERS FULL...</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. LOS ALAMOS -- NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Serber and I walk down the street. Snow falling.</scene_description>
    <character>SERBER</character>
    <dialogue>Little early for a Christmas party.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Something's up. Tolman's been away.</dialogue>
    <character>SERBER</character>
    <dialogue>Where?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Ruth won't tell.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>We head towards Fuller Lodge...</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. FULLER LODGE, LOS ALAMOS -- LATER</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A CHRISTMAS PARTY. DEBAUCHED. Kitty, in SANTA HAT, serves/spikes the EGGNOG. Bethe, Teller, Charlotte Serber, Neddermeyer, Kistiakowsky, Donald, Hornig, Bainbridge, Fuchs, Feynman amongst the revelers. I have Ruth cornered, glancing over at Kitty, who pretends she wasn't looking at me and GRABS at the nearest male arm- pushing eggnog...</scene_description>
    <character>RUTH</character>
    <dialogue>Compartmentalization, Oppie. What makes you think I know, anyway?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I take her glass. Sip from it...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>You do a good job of knowing where Mr Tolman is... when it counts.</dialogue>
    <character>RUTH</character>
    <dialogue>Like now.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I turn- Tolman and Groves enter, brushing off snow...</scene_description>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Atten-shun! We have an early Christmas present for you...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>They step aside to reveal... NIELS BOHR. I grin.</scene_description>
    <character>BOHR (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>The British pilots put me in the bomb bay...</dialogue>
    <character>INT. SAME -- LATER</character>
    <dialogue>Bohr holds court. I listen at the back.</dialogue>
    <character>BOHR</character>
    <dialogue>...showed me the oxygen- of course I messed it up. When they opened me up in Scotland I was unconscious. I pretended I'd been napping.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The crowd LAUGHS, loving it. Bohr peels off to talk to me.</scene_description>
    <character>BOHR</character>
    <dialogue>Is it big enough?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>To end the war?</dialogue>
    <character>BOHR</character>
    <dialogue>To end all war.</dialogue>
    <character>INT. LECTURE HALL, T-SECTION -- LATER</character>
    <dialogue>I sip my drink, watching Bohr read the boards. Tolman, Teller, Bethe and Serber sprawl, party hats, TINSEL scarves...</dialogue>
    <character>BOHR</character>
    <dialogue>Heisenberg sought me out in Copenhagen. It was chilling- my old student, working for the Nazis.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>BOHR</character>
    <dialogue>He told me things to draw me out... sustained fission reactions in uranium...</dialogue>
    <character>TOLMAN</character>
    <dialogue>That sounds more like a reactor than a bomb.</dialogue>
    <character>TELLER</character>
    <dialogue>Did he mention gaseous diffusion?</dialogue>
    <character>BOHR</character>
    <dialogue>He seemed more focused on heavy water.</dialogue>
    <character>TELLER</character>
    <dialogue>As a moderator?</dialogue>
    <character>BOHR</character>
    <dialogue>Yes. Instead of graphite.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Serber and Tolman GRIN. I nod. Bohr notices us relax...</scene_description>
    <character>BOHR</character>
    <dialogue>What?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>He took a wrong turn. We're ahead. And with you here to help us...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Bohr turns to Teller and the others-</scene_description>
    <character>BOHR</character>
    <dialogue>Gentlemen, could you give us a moment?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>They shuffle out. Bohr looks at the MARBLES. Turns to me...</scene_description>
    <character>BOHR</character>
    <dialogue>I'm not here to help, Robert. I knew you could do this without me.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Then why did you come?</dialogue>
    <character>BOHR</character>
    <dialogue>To talk about after. The power you're revealing will forever outlive the Nazis. And the world is not prepared.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>You can lift the rock without being ready for the snake that's revealed.</dialogue>
    <character>BOHR</character>
    <dialogue>We have to make the politicians understand- this isn't a new weapon- it's a new world. I'll be out there, doing what I can- but you...</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(points at me)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>You're an American Prometheus- Father of the Atomic Bomb. The man who gave them the power to destroy themselves. They'll respect that. And your work really begins.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I take this in. Charlotte Serber enters-</scene_description>
    <character>CHARLOTTE</character>
    <dialogue>I'm sorry, Oppie, but there's a call. From San Francisco.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I look at my watch, surprised... look at Bohr, who nods 'Go.'</scene_description>
    <character>EXT. SNOWY WOODS, LOS ALAMOS -- DAWN</character>
    <dialogue>Kitty, on horseback, finds my horse, tied up. She dismounts, moving into the trees... She finds me curled up at the base of a tree in the SNOW, distraught.</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>Robert?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She crouches, touches my shoulder- I look up, ASHAMED.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Her father called... they found her yesterday... in the bath...</dialogue>
    <character>INSERT CUT: A WOMAN, FACE-DOWN IN THE BATH, A CUSHION</character>
    <dialogue>BELOW...</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>Who?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>She'd taken pills, left a note... not signed... she took barbiturates...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904 INSERT CUT: TATLOCK KNEELS IN THE BATH, POPPING PILLS. SINKS SERENELY ONTO CUSHIONS UNDER THE WATER...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>But there was chloral hydrate in her blood...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>INSERT CUT: GLOVED HANDS HOLD TATLOCK'S STRUGGLING HEAD UNDERWATER... I SHAKE OFF the image...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>There was a note.</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>Jean Tatlock?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>INSERT CUT: OPPENHEIMER, NAKED, SHAKES HIS HEAD AT TATLOCK.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>We were together- she said she needed me... but I told her I wouldn't see her again. It was me.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Kitty SLAPS me in the face. I look up at her, bleary-eyed...</scene_description>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>You don't get to commit the sin, then have us all feel sorry for you that it had consequences.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(rises)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Pull yourself together. People here depend on you.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. LECTURE HALL, T-SECTION, LOS ALAMOS -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I vacantly preside over a shambles- the goldfish bowl is FILLED with marbles. As is the glass tumbler... Donald, Bainbridge, Feynman watch the others squabble-</scene_description>
    <character>HORNIG</character>
    <dialogue>Serber, I'm not quitting my job because plutonium's radioactive!</dialogue>
    <character>SERBER</character>
    <dialogue>We can't know what it might do to your reproductive system- Donald, help me out, here-</dialogue>
    <character>DONALD</character>
    <dialogue>You're on your own, pal. HORNIG</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(to Serber)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Your reproductive system's more exposed than mine. Presumably.</dialogue>
    <character>KISTIAKOWSKY</character>
    <dialogue>The implosion device is NEDDERMEYER nowhere. You can't rush everything,</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Oppie.</scene_description>
    <character>KISTIAKOWSKY</character>
    <dialogue>There's rushing and there's BETHE getting on with it- pick one, Teller's not helping- I've will ya? been asking for calculations</dialogue>
    <scene_description>on the implosion lenses for weeks-</scene_description>
    <character>TELLER</character>
    <dialogue>The British can do it- Fuchs- FUCHS</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Absolutely.</scene_description>
    <character>BETHE</character>
    <dialogue>It's your job, Teller! TELLER</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I'm engaged in research-</scene_description>
    <character>BETHE</character>
    <dialogue>On a Hydrogen bomb we're not even building!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Teller simply walks away. As he passes me-</scene_description>
    <character>TELLER</character>
    <dialogue>I won't work for that man.</dialogue>
    <character>BETHE</character>
    <dialogue>Let him go. He's a prima donna-</dialogue>
    <character>SERBER</character>
    <dialogue>I agree. He should leave Los Alamos.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I sigh. RISE, clear and direct-</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Kisty, you replace Neddermeyer. Seth, I'm putting you on plutonium. Lilli, go work for Kisty.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(off her look)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Because he needs you.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(to Fuchs)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Fuchs, take Teller's role- you're exclusively on the implosion device.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I head for the door-</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>And nobody is leaving Los Alamos.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. T-SECTION, LOS ALAMOS -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Teller is held at the gate. I approach. We face off in the 'street' like gunslingers.</scene_description>
    <character>TELLER</character>
    <dialogue>They won't let me leave.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I won't let you leave. Forget Hans, forget fission. Stay here and research what you want. Fusion. The Hydrogen bomb- whatever. We'll meet to discuss-</dialogue>
    <character>TELLER</character>
    <dialogue>You don't have time to meet. You're a politician now, Robert. You left physics behind long ago.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Once a week. One hour, you and me.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Teller considers this. Nods, turns to the GUARD-</scene_description>
    <character>TELLER</character>
    <dialogue>Now, raise that fucking barrier.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB (O.S.)</character>
    <dialogue>So the Super was under development on your watch at Los Alamos...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>...yet, after the war, you tried to deny it was viable.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>No. I pointed out technical difficulties with it.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Didn't you try to kill it at the AEC meeting after the Russian bomb test?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>No.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>But that was the recommendation the AEC offered, was it not?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>After hours of discussion...</dialogue>
    <character>INT. HOTEL CONFERENCE ROOM -- NIGHT (COLOUR)</character>
    <dialogue>Me, Bush, Nichols (CIVILIAN), Rabi, Fermi, Strauss and others.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>...about the best response.</dialogue>
    <character>BUSH</character>
    <dialogue>Truman has to do something...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Rabi opens his compasses wider...</scene_description>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>An H-bomb would be one thousand times the power of an A-bomb.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He draws a circle around Moscow...</scene_description>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>The only intended target would be the largest cities.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>And a circle around St Petersburg...</scene_description>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>It's a weapon of mass genocide.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Why don't you draw some of those circles on this side of the map?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He points at the USA...</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Start here...</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(gestures around them)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>New York.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904 As I listen to them I hear the sound of FEET STAMPING...</scene_description>
    <character>FERMI</character>
    <dialogue>It's a weapon of attack, with no defensive value.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Deterrence.</dialogue>
    <character>BUSH</character>
    <dialogue>Do we need more deterrence than our current arsenal of atomic bombs?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I tense up as the STAMPING SOUND gets LOUDER and LOUDER...</scene_description>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>Drown in ten feet of water or ten thousand, what's the difference? We can already drown Russia, and they know it.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>INSERT CUT: DOZENS OF FEET STAMPING, FASTER AND FASTER...</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Now they can drown us.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>INSERT CUT:... SO FAST THE FEET BREAK RHYTHM, CAUSING CACOPHONY...</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Gentlemen, I have to ask whether your discussion should be more of a technical one. Robert?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I JAM my eyes CLOSED, SHAKE OFF the image- the sound STOPS-</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Teller's designs are as impractical as they were during the war.</dialogue>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>The Hydrogen bomb can be made to work, Oppie. You know that.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>We can't commit all our resources to that chance.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Then how would you have Truman reassure the American people?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>By limiting the spread of atomic weapons through international control of nuclear energy.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>World government?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>The United Nations. As Roosevelt intended.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>I asked what Truman should do. The world's changed. Communism threatens our survival.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Lewis, if we build a Hydrogen bomb, the Soviets would have no choice but to build their own.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Could they be working on it already? Based on information from a spy at Los Alamos?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>There was no spy at Los BUSH Alamos! Gentlemen, let's not get</dialogue>
    <scene_description>sidetracked.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I say we use this moment to gain concessions from the Russians by committing that we will not build the Hydrogen bomb.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Thereby revealing its existence.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Which you seem convinced they already know.</dialogue>
    <character>BUSH</character>
    <dialogue>At this point I'd like the Advisory Committee members to meet in privacy to finalize our recommendations.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Strauss nods. Rises. Much of the room follows suit, leaving. 8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>I'm not sure you want to go down this road, Robert.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Lewis, we're the Advisory Committee. We'll give them our advice.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Strauss shrugs. As he, Lawrence and Nichols leave together, Borden approaches.</scene_description>
    <character>BORDEN</character>
    <dialogue>Dr Oppenheimer? William Borden- Joint Committee on Atomic Energy.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Oh, yes.</dialogue>
    <character>BORDEN</character>
    <dialogue>During the war, I was a pilot. One night, flying back from a raid, I saw an amazing sight- like a meteor-</dialogue>
    <scene_description>INSERT CUT: BORDEN SPEEDS THROUGH THE NIGHT...</scene_description>
    <character>BORDEN (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>A V-2 rocket heading for England-</dialogue>
    <scene_description>INSERT CUT: A ROCKET STREAKS PAST, RIPPING APART THE DARK...</scene_description>
    <character>BORDEN (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>I can't help but imagine what it will be for such an enemy rocket to carry an atomic warhead...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>INSERT CUT: A MISSILE RISES THROUGH THE CLOUDS... I hear the sound of FEET STAMPING... INSERT CUT: DOZENS OF FEET STAMPING FASTER AND FASTER... I peer into the future... INSERT CUT: HUNDREDS OF MISSILES RISE THROUGH THE CLOUDS... I look at the map... Rabi's circles EXPAND like raindrops in a puddle...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Then let's make sure we're not the ones to make that possible.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>But that's not the answer Borden wanted. He leaves. Fermi and Bush remain. Rabi leans over to me.</scene_description>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>Oppie, you don't want to go up against Strauss.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>If we both speak, they listen to me.</dialogue>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>When you speak, they hear a prophet. When Strauss speaks, they hear themselves.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>They'll listen to a prophet.</dialogue>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>A prophet can't be wrong. Not once.</dialogue>
    <character>SENATOR MCGEE (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Didn't you accuse Oppenheimer of sabotaging the development of the Super?</dialogue>
    <character>CUT TO:</character>
    <dialogue>INT. SENATE COMMITTEE HEARING ROOM -- DAY (B&amp;W)</dialogue>
    <dialogue>Strauss shifts uneasily in his chair.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>I was never one of those who bandied around terms like 'sabotage'.</dialogue>
    <character>SENATOR MCGEE</character>
    <dialogue>But Mr Borden was?</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>As I understand it.</dialogue>
    <character>SENATOR MCGEE</character>
    <dialogue>How was Mr Borden able to put together such a detailed indictment?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>SENATOR MCGEE</character>
    <dialogue>He was no longer a government employee, and yet he appears to have had unlimited access to Dr Oppenheimer's file. Might Mr Nichols have given him access to the file? Or someone else at the AEC?</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Feelings ran high on these issues, but that's a very serious accusation, Senator.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. LOS ALAMOS -- DAY (COLOUR)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>RAIN. I ride my horse through the outskirts. Spot a FLIER stapled to a telegraph pole, ink running: "THE IMPACT OF THE GADGET ON CIVILIZATION - DISCUSSION, BLDG T31 SUNDAY, 11AM".</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CYCLOTRON BUILDING, LOS ALAMOS -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I enter to find forty scientists meeting. Hornig is speaking.</scene_description>
    <character>HORNIG</character>
    <dialogue>Germany's about to surrender, the Japanese are losing. It's no longer the enemy who are the greatest threat to mankind- it's us. Our work.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Heads turn as they notice me.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Hitler's dead. But the Japanese fight on.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The audience is now turned my way...</scene_description>
    <character>HORNIG</character>
    <dialogue>Their defeat seems assured.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Not if you're a GI preparing to invade Japan. We can end this war.</dialogue>
    <character>MORRISON</character>
    <dialogue>How can we justify using this weapon on human beings?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>We're theorists- we can imagine a future, and our imaginings horrify us. But they won't fear it until they understand it, and they won't understand it until they've used it. When the world learns the terrible secret of Los Alamos, our work will ensure a peace mankind has never seen. A peace based on the kind of international cooperation that Roosevelt always envisaged.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Some of the scientists nod. Scattered applause...</scene_description>
    <character>INSERT CUT: THE GOLDFISH BOWL IS FULL OF MARBLES...</character>
    <dialogue>EXT. LOS ALAMOS -- DAY</dialogue>
    <dialogue>I walk down the main drag with Groves.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Progress.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Two years and a billion dollars' worth?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Hard to put a price on it.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Not really. Just add up the bills.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(points)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>'Rural free delivery'... Eighty babies delivered the first year. This year they've had ten a month.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Birth control's a little out of my jurisdiction, General.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Groves watches Kitty approach- she's HEAVILY PREGNANT.</scene_description>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Clearly.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. CANYON, LOS ALAMOS -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>An IMPLOSION DEVICE ROCKS the canyon. Groves, Fuchs and I raise our heads- Kistiakowsky and Hornig rush to the device-</scene_description>
    <character>KISTIAKOWSKY</character>
    <dialogue>That's the one!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I put my PIPE on the wall as we CLIMB out of the bunker...</scene_description>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Two viable bombs. I need a date.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>September-</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>July-</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Kistiakowsky waves a trail of ticker tape-</scene_description>
    <character>KISTIAKOWSKY</character>
    <dialogue>That's the sweet spot, gentlemen!</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>August.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>July-</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>A test in July.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Fuchs hands me my pipe. I dust it off...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>But I need my brother.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(off his look)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Frank knows the desert. He left politics behind- he's been working for Lawrence for two years.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>INSERT CUT: FLYING OVER DESERT TO FIND FRANK STANDING BY A JEEP WITH AN ARMY OFFICER.</scene_description>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>What do we call the test?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <parenthetical>(thinking)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>'Batter my heart, three-person'd god.'</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>What?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Trinity.</dialogue>
    <character>INSERT CUT: A STEEL TOWER IS RAISED IN THE DESERT...</character>
    <dialogue>INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -- DAY</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>So you insisted on bringing on your brother, Frank, a known Communist-</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Former Communist-</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>You brought a known former Communist onto America's most secret and important defence project?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I knew my brother could be trusted absolutely.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>And you feel your judgement was sound on who on the team could be trusted?</dialogue>
    <character>KISTIAKOWSKY (O.S.)</character>
    <dialogue>Fuchs! Head down!</dialogue>
    <character>EXT. BERM -- DAY</character>
    <dialogue>Behind a berm, Groves, Fuchs, Frank and I watch Kistiakowsky and Hornig arm a detonator. Fuchs shuffles lower.</dialogue>
    <character>KISTIAKOWSKY</character>
    <dialogue>Everybody ready...?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Kistiakowsky triggers A VAST EXPLOSION, SPLINTERING THE TOWER, SENDING A MASSIVE PLUME OF FIRE INTO THE AIR... the SHOCKWAVE throws DEBRIS onto me and Groves...</scene_description>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>I hope you learned something.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>FRANK</character>
    <dialogue>We learned we're gonna need to be a lot further away...</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Well, figure it out. Fast.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(to me)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>We leave for Washington tomorrow, and we're going to give them a date.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. HOTEL LOBBY, WASHINGTON, DC -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I walk across the lobby- someone GRABS my arm- Szilard, with the Scientist with Glasses in tow. I glance out the window, where Groves is getting into a car, waiting for me...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>You're a long way from Chicago, Leo.</dialogue>
    <character>SZILARD</character>
    <dialogue>If we don't act now, they're going to use this thing against Japan. We booked a meeting with Truman, but somebody killed it. You're meeting the Secretary of War-</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Just because we're building it- doesn't mean we get to decide how it's used.</dialogue>
    <character>SZILARD</character>
    <dialogue>History will judge us, Robert. In Chicago we put together a petition-</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Glasses holds out a paper- I PUSH it back- Glasses FLINCHES-</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I'm not getting into that. Tell me your concerns and I'll relay them-</dialogue>
    <character>SZILARD</character>
    <dialogue>My concerns?! Germany's defeated, Japan's not going to hold out alone-</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>How would you know? You got us into this, you and Einstein, with your letter to Roosevelt saying we could build a bomb-</dialogue>
    <character>SZILARD</character>
    <dialogue>Against Germany.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>That's not how weapons manufacture works, Szilard.</dialogue>
    <character>SZILARD</character>
    <dialogue>Oppie, you have to help.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Fermi's in the meeting. And SZILARD (CONT'D) Lawrence- They're not you. You're the</dialogue>
    <scene_description>great salesman of science- you can convince anyone of anything. Even yourself.</scene_description>
    <character>INT. SECRETARY OF WAR'S OFFICE -- DAY</character>
    <dialogue>I sit on a couch next to Fermi- Lawrence, Groves and Bush in chairs. Secretary of War STIMSON presides. Military, scientists and officials are scattered through the room.</dialogue>
    <character>STIMSON</character>
    <dialogue>The firestorm in Tokyo killed one hundred thousand people. Mostly civilians. I worry about an America where we do these things and no one protests.</dialogue>
    <character>MARSHALL</character>
    <dialogue>Pearl Harbor and three years of brutal conflict in the Pacific buys a lot of latitude with the American public.</dialogue>
    <character>STIMSON</character>
    <dialogue>Enough to unleash the atomic bomb?</dialogue>
    <character>FERMI</character>
    <dialogue>In truth, the A-bomb might not cause as much damage as the Tokyo bombings.</dialogue>
    <character>STIMSON</character>
    <dialogue>What are we estimating?</dialogue>
    <character>BUSH</character>
    <dialogue>In a medium-sized city, twenty or thirty thousand dead.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Don't underestimate the psychological impact of an atomic explosion... a pillar of fire ten thousand feet tall, deadly neutron effects for a mile in all directions... from one. Single. Device. Dropped from a barely noticed B-29... the atomic bomb will be a terrible revelation of divine power.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Groves carefully monitors my effect on the room...</scene_description>
    <character>MARSHALL</character>
    <dialogue>If that's true it would be definitive. World War II would be over. Our boys would come home.</dialogue>
    <character>STIMSON</character>
    <dialogue>This could end the war.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>This could end all war. If we retain moral advantage.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Groves registers the pivot...</scene_description>
    <character>STIMSON</character>
    <dialogue>How so?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>If we use this weapon without informing our allies, they'll see It as a threat and we'll be in an arms race.</dialogue>
    <character>MARSHALL</character>
    <dialogue>How open can we be with the Soviets?</dialogue>
    <character>BUSH</character>
    <dialogue>Secrecy won't stop the Soviets becoming part of the atomic world.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>A politician, BYRNES, clears his throat politely-</scene_description>
    <character>BYRNES</character>
    <dialogue>We've been told they have no uranium.</dialogue>
    <character>BUSH</character>
    <dialogue>You've been misinformed. A Russian bomb is a matter of time.</dialogue>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>To stay ahead, our programme has to continue at full pace after the war.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Secretary Stimson, if I may. Not all the scientists on the project agree. In fact, this might be a moment to consider other opinions-</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>The Manhattan Project's been plagued from the start by certain scientists of doubtful discretion and uncertain loyalty. One of them just tried to get a meeting with the President.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I say nothing. Groves looks directly at me.</scene_description>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>We need them for now, but as soon as is practical, we should sever any such scientists from the programme. Wouldn't you agree, doctor?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I meet Groves' gaze. Stay silent... Nod.</scene_description>
    <character>MARSHALL</character>
    <dialogue>If a Russian bomb is inevitable, perhaps we should invite their top scientists to Trinity.</dialogue>
    <character>BYRNES</character>
    <dialogue>President Truman has no intention of raising expectations that Stalin be included in the atomic project.</dialogue>
    <character>STIMSON</character>
    <dialogue>Informing him of our breakthrough, and presenting it as the means to win the war need not make unkeepable promises. But the Potsdam peace conference in July is the last chance for Truman to have that conversation. Can you give us a working bomb by then?</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Absolutely. We'll test-fire before the conference.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>STIMSON</character>
    <dialogue>And Japan?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>If the test works you'll have two bombs for August.</dialogue>
    <character>STIMSON</character>
    <dialogue>Military targets?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>There aren't any big enough.</dialogue>
    <character>CONANT</character>
    <dialogue>Perhaps a vital war plant, with workers housed nearby.</dialogue>
    <character>FERMI</character>
    <dialogue>Could we issue a warning? To reduce civilian casualties.</dialogue>
    <character>AIR FORCE OFFICER</character>
    <dialogue>They'd send up everything they have against us, and I'd be in that plane.</dialogue>
    <character>BUSH</character>
    <dialogue>If we announce it and it fails to go off we'd scupper any chance of Japanese surrender.</dialogue>
    <character>LAWRENCE</character>
    <dialogue>Is there no way to demonstrate the bomb to Japan to provoke surrender?</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>We intend to demonstrate it in the most unambiguous terms. Twice. Once to show the weapon's power. A second to show that we can keep going until they surrender.</dialogue>
    <character>STIMSON</character>
    <dialogue>We have a list of twelve cities to choose from. Sorry, eleven, I've taken Kyoto off the list because of its cultural significance to the Japanese people.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Stimson senses the unease in the room...</scene_description>
    <character>STIMSON</character>
    <dialogue>Let me make this simple for you, gentlemen.</dialogue>
    <character>STIMSON</character>
    <dialogue>The Japanese will not surrender short of a successful invasion of the home islands. Many lives, American and Japanese, will be lost in that invasion. The use of the atomic bomb against Japanese cities will save lives.</dialogue>
    <character>EXT. BASE OF STEEL TOWER, TRINITY TEST SITE -- DAY</character>
    <dialogue>Frank shows Groves and me the site plan...</dialogue>
    <character>FRANK</character>
    <dialogue>Ground Zero. Observation posts at ten thousand yards north, south and west.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Where do we trigger from?</dialogue>
    <character>FRANK</character>
    <dialogue>South ten thousand. Base camp is ten miles south, here. And a further observation point on this hill twenty miles away.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I point to a crew digging a trench from the base of the tower.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>What's that? The trigger lines went in already.</dialogue>
    <character>FRANK</character>
    <dialogue>The air force requested a line of lights for their B-29.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>What B-29? Our bomb's on the tower.</dialogue>
    <character>FRANK</character>
    <dialogue>They want to use the test to confirm the safe operating distance.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Risky.</dialogue>
    <character>FRANK</character>
    <dialogue>Not as risky as dropping one over Japan and hoping we were right about the blast radius.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Don't let them slow us down- we're firing on the 15th.</dialogue>
    <character>FRANK</character>
    <dialogue>The 15th?! That's not- GROVES</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The 15th! Frank sees my expression-</scene_description>
    <character>FRANK</character>
    <dialogue>The 15th.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. LECTURE HALL, T-SECTION, LOS ALAMOS -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I show the plan to the division heads.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I'll be at the south observation point with Frank and Kistiakowsky. You'll all be assigned to base camp, far observation, or west observation.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>INSERT CUT: I ENTER A TENT AT THE BASE OF THE TOWER- THE SILVER SPHERE OF THE BOMB IS SURROUNDED BY THE TEAM...</scene_description>
    <character>BETHE</character>
    <dialogue>Are those safe distances?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>They're based on your calculations.</dialogue>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>Time to stand behind your science, Hans. Literally.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>INSERT CUT: THE BOMB IS HOISTED UP IN TO THE TOWER...</scene_description>
    <character>TELLER</character>
    <dialogue>What about the radiation cloud?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Without high winds it should settle within two to three miles. Evacuation measures will be in place, but we need good weather for visibility so it should be fine. We go on the night of the 15th.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The team exchange looks-</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>That's a hard deadline, so if anyone has anything... speak now.</dialogue>
    <character>BETHE</character>
    <dialogue>We need a final implosion test.</dialogue>
    <character>KISTIAKOWSKY</character>
    <dialogue>Couldn't hurt.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Do it. Is there anything else that might stop us?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>A THUNDERCLAP takes us into-</scene_description>
    <character>EXT. OPPENHEIMER HOUSE, LOS ALAMOS -- DAY</character>
    <dialogue>White sheets FLAP CRAZILY in the wind... through the window we see Kitty put her drink down reluctantly. She comes out to grab a sheet that has come loose from the line... notices a JEEP idling at the gate, ARMED GUARDS patiently waiting.</dialogue>
    <dialogue>I emerge from the house carrying an overnight bag. Kitty, one hand on the washing line, turns to look at me, curious.</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>It's happening, isn't it?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I watch the sheets flapping. Glance at the guards...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I'll send a message. If it's gone our way... 'Take in the sheets.'</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She nods. I head towards the waiting jeep.</scene_description>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>Robert?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I turn, looking at Kitty amongst the FLAPPING SHEETS...</scene_description>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>Break a leg.</dialogue>
    <character>EXT. CANYON, LOS ALAMOS -- DAY</character>
    <dialogue>A BANG as the final implosion test goes off... Kistiakowsky and Fuchs raise their heads... Kistiakowsky shows Fuchs the tape, grave.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STEEL TOWER, TRINITY TEST SITE -- EVENING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I watch the last TECHNICIAN come down. I nod at the man, then start my lonely climb... I stare at the silver sphere of the first atomic bomb, its surface STUDDED with detonators, WIRES DRAPED across it like spaghetti. Thunder RUMBLES. I watch the approaching storm...</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. BASE CAMP, TRINITY TEST SITE -- EVENING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Army tents. A WINDMILL SPINS FURIOUSLY...</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. BASE CAMP, TRINITY TEST SITE -- EVENING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Fermi moves through the team, taking bets...</scene_description>
    <character>FERMI</character>
    <dialogue>Oppie's taken a very modest three kilotons... Teller's in for forty- five...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Rabi pulls out some bills-</scene_description>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>Twenty.</dialogue>
    <character>FERMI</character>
    <dialogue>Twenty thousand tons of TNT... and does anyone want the side action on total atmospheric ignition?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The scientists groan and laugh. Soldiers look at each other: 'What the hell?' Groves corners the army WEATHERMAN.</scene_description>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Are you saying we'll have to delay?</dialogue>
    <character>WEATHERMAN</character>
    <dialogue>I'm saying it would be prudent.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Has this weather reached the site?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The weatherman gets on his radio. Kistiakowsky BURSTS in-</scene_description>
    <character>KISTIAKOWSKY</character>
    <dialogue>Oppie-</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The phone rings -</scene_description>
    <character>KISTIAKOWSKY</character>
    <dialogue>Bethe's calling you to tell you the implosion test failed, but-</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I have the phone to my ear -</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Hans. Yes, he's here. Yes.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(I hang up)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Is he wrong?</dialogue>
    <character>KISTIAKOWSKY</character>
    <dialogue>No.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>So we're about to fire a dud?</dialogue>
    <character>KISTIAKOWSKY</character>
    <dialogue>No.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Explain.</dialogue>
    <character>KISTIAKOWSKY</character>
    <dialogue>I can't. I just know the implosion lenses will work.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>If we fire those detonators and they don't trigger the reaction, two years' worth of plutonium will be scattered across white sands.</dialogue>
    <character>KISTIAKOWSKY</character>
    <parenthetical>(holds out his hand)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>A month of my salary against ten bucks says it lights.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I study Kistiakowsky. Take the bet.</scene_description>
    <character>WEATHERMAN</character>
    <dialogue>The wind's picking up at Zero, not the rain. Lightning circling.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>THUNDER. Rabi calls over-</scene_description>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>Hey, weatherman, you think it might be time to get your men away from the steel tower with the atomic bomb primed to detonate via electrical charge?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The weatherman laughs. Then GRABS the radio - 8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>WEATHERMAN</character>
    <dialogue>Pull 'em out.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <parenthetical>(to Groves)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Let's get to south observation. Make our determination there.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STEEL TOWER, TRINITY TEST SITE -- NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The last trucks drive away, lightning on the horizon. The bomb sits there, impervious to peals of DRY THUNDER...</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. SOUTH OBSERVATION POST, TRINITY TEST SITE -- NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Groves, the weatherman and I watch rain LASH the desert...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>The team hasn't slept for two nights. We stand down, make the bomb safe, it's weeks before we get back here.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Then we miss Potsdam.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(checks watch)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I need to get word to Truman by seven.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(to the weatherman)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Our window's closing. What's it doing?</dialogue>
    <character>WEATHERMAN</character>
    <dialogue>Raining. Blowing. Lightning.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>For how long, dammit?!</dialogue>
    <character>WEATHERMAN</character>
    <dialogue>It's holding strong.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>It'll break before dawn.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>How could you know that?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I know this desert. The air cools overnight. Just before dawn, the storm breaks.</dialogue>
    <character>WEATHERMAN</character>
    <dialogue>He could be right. But schedule it as late as possible.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Five thirty?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Groves considers this. Turns to the weatherman.</scene_description>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Sign your forecast. If you're wrong, I'll hang you.</dialogue>
    <character>INT. BUNKER, SOUTH OBSERVATION POST -- NIGHT</character>
    <dialogue>Groves and me, alone. Rain pelting down outside.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Three years. Four thousand people. Two billion dollars. If it doesn't go off we're both finished.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I put my money on three kilotons. Any less, they won't get what it is.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>What did Fermi mean by 'atmospheric ignition'?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>We had a moment where it looked like the chain reaction from an atomic device might never stop. Setting fire to the atmosphere.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Why's Fermi still taking side bets on it?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Call it gallows humour.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Groves takes this in. Picks the scab-</scene_description>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Are we saying there's a chance that when we push that button... we destroy the world?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Nothing in our research over the last three years supports that conclusion except as the most remote possibility.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>How remote?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>The chances are near zero.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Near zero?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <parenthetical>(smiling)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>What do you want from theory alone?</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Zero would be nice.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I check my watch.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Well, in an hour and fifty-eight minutes, we'll know.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I listen-</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>It's letting up...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. TRINITY TEST SITE -- NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Searchlights settle on the gleaming steel tower. A line of lights leading from the blackness of the night-time desert to the tower comes on...</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. SOUTH OBSERVATION POST, TRINITY TEST SITE -- CONTINUOUS</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Groves and I come out into gentle rain. The wind has fallen off. Frank comes up to meet us.</scene_description>
    <character>FRANK</character>
    <dialogue>The arming party's left Zero, heading this way, throwing the switches...</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(to the soldiers)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Turn the cars, ready for emergency evacuation...</dialogue>
    <character>EXT. SOUTH 1500 POST -- NIGHT</character>
    <dialogue>Kistiakowsky and military personal, including BAINBRIDGE, get out of a truck. Kistiakowsky THROWS a SWITCH on the ground...</dialogue>
    <character>EXT. BASE CAMP, TRINITY TEST SITE -- CONTINUOUS</character>
    <dialogue>Rabi, Fermi and Bethe come outside. A SOLDIER hands them WELDER'S GLASS...</dialogue>
    <character>EXT. SOUTH OBSERVATION POST, TRINITY TEST SITE -- NIGHT</character>
    <dialogue>Kistiakowsky and Bainbridge get out of the truck and enter the bunker.</dialogue>
    <character>INT. SOUTH OBSERVATION POST, TRINITY TEST SITE -- CONTINUOUS</character>
    <dialogue>Bainbridge pulls out a key. UNLOCKS the arming switches. Kistiakowsky nods, Bainbridge THROWS THE SWITCHES.</dialogue>
    <character>BAINBRIDGE</character>
    <dialogue>Twenty minutes.</dialogue>
    <character>EXT. TRINITY TEST SITE -- CONTINUOUS</character>
    <dialogue>A SIGNAL ROCKET flares up into the air...</dialogue>
    <character>EXT. BASE CAMP, TRINITY TEST SITE -- CONTINUOUS</character>
    <dialogue>Rabi, Fermi and the others watch the rocket go up-</dialogue>
    <character>FERMI</character>
    <dialogue>Twenty minutes!</dialogue>
    <character>EXT. HILLTOP DISTANT OBSERVATION POINT -- CONTINUOUS</character>
    <dialogue>A group of scientists, including Teller, Feynman and Lawrence, watch the distant rocket sputter...</dialogue>
    <character>FEYNMAN</character>
    <dialogue>That's twenty!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>DARK GLASSES are handed out. Feynman refuses, jumping up into the cab of a truck-</scene_description>
    <character>SOLDIER</character>
    <dialogue>Hey, Feynman-</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904 Feynman TAPS the windshield-</scene_description>
    <character>FEYNMAN</character>
    <dialogue>The glass stops the UV.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Teller, in dark glasses, is APPLYING SUNSCREEN at night-</scene_description>
    <character>TELLER</character>
    <dialogue>But what stops the glass?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Feynman looks at Teller. Looks at the glass, shakes his head, grinning...</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SOUTH OBSERVATION POST, TRINITY TEST SITE -- CONTINUOUS</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Groves moves to me-</scene_description>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>I'm heading to base camp. Best of luck.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Groves shakes my hand.</scene_description>
    <character>GROVES (CONT'D)</character>
    <dialogue>Try not to blow up the world.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SAME -- MOMENTS LATER</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I watch Bainbridge take his place at the KILL SWITCH.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Watch that needle. If the detonators don't charge, or if the voltage dips below one volt, you abort.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Bainbridge nods, watching the meter of the X-unit like a hawk. A nervous hawk.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. BASE CAMP, TRINITY TEST SITE -- CONTINUOUS</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A loudspeaker broadcasts the countdown-</scene_description>
    <character>LOUDSPEAKER</character>
    <dialogue>Two minutes to detonation...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The two-minute rocket goes up-</scene_description>
    <character>ARMY CAPTAIN</character>
    <dialogue>Everybody down!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The observers lie on the ground, facing away from the site.</scene_description>
    <character>ARMY CAPTAIN</character>
    <dialogue>Do not turn around until you see light reflected on the hills. Then look at the explosion only through the welder's glass...</dialogue>
    <character>LOUDSPEAKER</character>
    <dialogue>Ninety seconds...</dialogue>
    <character>EXT. DISTANT OBSERVATION POINT -- CONTINUOUS</character>
    <dialogue>Feynman TUNES the radio into the countdown relay-</dialogue>
    <character>RADIO</character>
    <dialogue>Sixty seconds...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Lawrence jumps in next to Feynman. The scientists peer into the distance through the windshield... Teller, pale with sunscreen, adjusts his dark glasses...</scene_description>
    <character>INT. SOUTH OBSERVATION POST, TRINITY TEST SITE -- CONTINUOUS</character>
    <dialogue>Bainbridge PEERS at the X-unit... Frank and I peer at the tower... The electronic counter STARTS: 45, 44, 43, 42...</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>These things are hard on your heart.</dialogue>
    <character>LOUDSPEAKER</character>
    <dialogue>Thirty seconds...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>FOUR RED LIGHTS flicker on-</scene_description>
    <character>EXT. STEEL TOWER, TRINITY TEST SITE -- CONTINUOUS</character>
    <dialogue>The bomb WAKES, detonators on its surface HUMMING...</dialogue>
    <character>INT. SOUTH OBSERVATION POST, TRINITY TEST SITE -- CONTINUOUS</character>
    <dialogue>The NEEDLE on the X-unit SHOOTS to the right-</dialogue>
    <character>BAINBRIDGE</character>
    <dialogue>Detonators charged!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I pull on a pair of WELDER'S GOGGLES... 8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. BASE CAMP, TRINITY TEST SITE -- CONTINUOUS</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Rabi lifts his head to peek around, welder's glass over his eyes... Groves shakes hands with Bush...</scene_description>
    <character>LOUDSPEAKER</character>
    <dialogue>...eighteen, seventeen...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. DISTANT OBSERVATION POINT -- CONTINUOUS</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Feynman peers through the windshield. Teller studies the horizon...</scene_description>
    <character>RADIO</character>
    <dialogue>...twelve, eleven...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SOUTH OBSERVATION POST, TRINITY TEST SITE -- CONTINUOUS</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A GONG sounds at T-minus 10- Bainbridge peers at the needle, which BOBBLES- his hand FLINCHES- the needle settles...</scene_description>
    <character>LOUDSPEAKER</character>
    <dialogue>Ten, nine, eight...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Frank and I peer through the holes in the concrete.</scene_description>
    <character>LOUDSPEAKER</character>
    <dialogue>...seven, six, five...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Kistiakowsky SCRAMBLES out of the bunker-</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. SOUTH OBSERVATION POST, TRINITY TEST SITE -- CONTINUOUS</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>-and up onto the embankment, eyes locked on the tiny glow of the distant tower...</scene_description>
    <character>LOUDSPEAKER</character>
    <dialogue>...four, three...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SOUTH OBSERVATION POST, TRINITY TEST SITE -- CONTINUOUS</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I stare straight ahead...</scene_description>
    <character>LOUDSPEAKER</character>
    <dialogue>...two, one...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Bainbridge watches the needle as the counter goes down to- ... zero. My breath stops- an agonizing instant before- SILENT LIGHT. FULL BRIGHT NOON SUNNY DAYLIGHT.</scene_description>
    <character>EXT. BASE CAMP, TRINITY TEST SITE -- CONTINUOUS</character>
    <dialogue>Rabi sees SUDDEN DAYTIME- turns to the LIGHT, peers through the welder's glass at BLINDING SILENT WHITE...</dialogue>
    <character>EXT. DISTANT OBSERVATION POINT -- CONTINUOUS</character>
    <dialogue>Lawrence is stepping out of the car as Feynman SHUTS his eyes against INSTANT DAYLIGHT... a HUSHED INTAKE OF BREATH from the crowd of sunglasses-clad distant observers...</dialogue>
    <character>INT. SOUTH OBSERVATION POST, TRINITY TEST SITE -- CONTINUOUS</character>
    <dialogue>All we can hear is my TREMULOUS BREATHING as the LIGHT becomes less BLINDING, resolving into a FIREBALL, BRIGHT AS THE SUN, BUT GIANT... I YANK off my goggles... watch the ROILING PLASMA become more visible in its HELLISH CONTORTIONS... CLIMBING into the sky like the DEVIL'S CLAW...</dialogue>
    <dialogue>My PUPILS are PINPRICKS-</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Now I am become Death, destroyer of worlds...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>And then- CRACK!!... !!!... !!!!... !!!!!... I am hit by the WIND and DUST of the SHOCKWAVE-</scene_description>
    <character>THE THUNDER OF A THOUSAND STORMS ROLLS OVER, DEAFENING-</character>
    <dialogue>EXT. SOUTH OBSERVATION POST, TRINITY TEST SITE -- CONTINUOUS</dialogue>
    <dialogue>Kistiakowsky is BLOWN OFF HIS FEET...</dialogue>
    <character>INT. SOUTH OBSERVATION POST, TRINITY TEST SITE -- CONTINUOUS</character>
    <dialogue>With the wave of DARK THUNDER, TERRIBLE BEAUTY GIVES WAY TO FEAR... I TREMBLE as I watch the glowing cloud climb to its full height, its inner fire dimming to a HELLISH SCARLET... DUST CLOUD RISING, CRACKLING WITH PURPLISH ENERGY...</dialogue>
    <dialogue>As the sound diminishes to a RUMBLE and night REGAINS the desert floor, Frank turns to me-</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>FRANK</character>
    <parenthetical>(quiet)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>It worked.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I nod, awestruck...</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. BASE CAMP, TRINITY TEST SITE -- CONTINUOUS</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Startled murmurs, then a few claps... then CRAZY, CHEERING, CLAPPING, DANCING... in the middle of it all Rabi tries to understand what just happened...</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. SAME -- CONTINUOUS</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>ECSTATIC CHEERING... even Teller SMILES... Feynman pulls out some BONGOS and hops onto the hood of the truck... people DANCE to his PAGAN RHYTHM as the dawn CREEPS IN...</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. SOUTH OBSERVATION POST, TRINITY TEST SITE -- CONTINUOUS</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Kistiakowsky GRABS me in a big HUG- steps back- holding out his hand for payment. I pull out my wallet, frown- there's nothing in it-</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I'm good for it.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Kistiakowsky GRINS-</scene_description>
    <character>KISTIAKOWSKY</character>
    <dialogue>Yes, you are! Yes, you are!</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. BASE CAMP, TRINITY TEST SITE -- MOMENTS LATER</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Rabi, still amidst the celebration, watches a car pull up. I get out, walking like GARY FUCKING COOPER- the crowd spots me... goes NUTS. Groves turns to an AIDE -</scene_description>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Get me Potsdam. Right away.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I nod at Groves, move through the sea of congratulations to find Serber...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Get a message to Kitty...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Serber's face falls, perturbed-</scene_description>
    <character>SERBER</character>
    <dialogue>We can't say anything-</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Just tell her to bring in the sheets.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Serber grins. I spot Groves on a FIELD TELEPHONE- then am HOISTED ONTO JOYFUL SHOULDERS...</scene_description>
    <character>INT. OPPENHEIMER HOUSE, LOS ALAMOS -- DAY</character>
    <dialogue>Kitty wrangles the kitchen phone while she feeds our baby daughter and young son-</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>Sorry. Yes, Charlotte, go ahead.</dialogue>
    <character>CHARLOTTE</character>
    <parenthetical>(over phone)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Well, I don't know, he just said to tell you to bring in the sheets.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Kitty freezes, letting the phone come off her ear...</scene_description>
    <character>CHARLOTTE</character>
    <parenthetical>(over phone)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Kitty? Kitty?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Kitty smiles, tears forming. It is done.</scene_description>
    <character>FADE OUT.</character>
    <dialogue>FADE IN:</dialogue>
    <character>EXT. T-SECTION, LOS ALAMOS -- DAY</character>
    <dialogue>I watch CRATES hoisted on trucks by the army...</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>They musn't drop it through cloud cover-</dialogue>
    <character>INT. T-SECTION, LOS ALAMOS -- DAY</character>
    <dialogue>I am talking to the AIR FORCE OFFICER who is supervising the crating of equipment-</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>If they detonate it too high in the air, the blast won't be as powerful-</dialogue>
    <character>AIR FORCE OFFICER</character>
    <dialogue>With respect, Dr Oppenheimer. We'll take it from here.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I lose sight of the bomb as THE CRATE IS CLOSED.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. T-SECTION, LOS ALAMOS -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Groves appears at my side, watching the loading...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Did Truman brief Stalin at Potsdam?</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>'Brief' would be an overstatement. He referred to a powerful new weapon, Stalin said he hoped we'd make good use of it against Japan.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>That's it?</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Robert, we've given them an ace. It's for them to play the hand.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Frustrated, I drop my cigarette and GRIND it out-</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>You're aiming for the 6th?</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>That's up to the CO in the Pacific.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Should I come with you to Washington?</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>What for?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Well... you'll keep me informed?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Groves turns to leave -</scene_description>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Of course.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(looks back)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>As best I can.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I watch Groves leave, uneasy. A truck pulls out, REVEALING TELLER. He crosses, watching the loaded truck move away...</scene_description>
    <character>TELLER</character>
    <dialogue>Would the Japanese surrender if they knew what was coming?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I don't know.</dialogue>
    <character>TELLER</character>
    <dialogue>Have you seen Szilard's petition?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Yeah. What the hell does Szilard know about the Japanese?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I look at Teller.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>You're not signing it?</dialogue>
    <character>TELLER</character>
    <dialogue>A lot of people have.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Edward, the fact that we built this bomb doesn't give us any more right or responsibility to decide how it's used than anyone else.</dialogue>
    <character>TELLER</character>
    <dialogue>But we're the only people who know about it.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I've told Stimson the various opinions of the community.</dialogue>
    <character>TELLER</character>
    <dialogue>But what's your opinion?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I watch another truck pull out...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Once it's used, nuclear war, maybe all war, becomes unthinkable.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>TELLER</character>
    <dialogue>Until somebody builds a bigger bomb.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. OPPENHEIMER HOUSE, LOS ALAMOS -- NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Kitty comes downstairs to find me sitting at the kitchen table. The phone in front of me.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I thought they would call.</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>It's only the 5th.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>In Japan it's the 6th.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. OPPENHEIMER'S OFFICE, LOS ALAMOS -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I pace my office, agitated.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Charlotte? Try Groves again.</dialogue>
    <character>CHARLOTTE (O.S.)</character>
    <dialogue>Truman's on the Radio- !</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I BOLT into-</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. FOYER, OPPENHEIMER'S OFFICE -- CONTINUOUS</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Charlotte is patching the PA to the radio-</scene_description>
    <character>TRUMAN</character>
    <parenthetical>(over radio)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>...Sixteen hours ago an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima and destroyed its usefulness to the enemy...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. OFFICE, T-SECTION, LOS ALAMOS -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Frank is doing paperwork when the PA WHISTLES-</scene_description>
    <character>TRUMAN</character>
    <parenthetical>(over PA)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>That bomb had more power than twenty thousand tons of TNT...</dialogue>
    <character>INT. CORRIDOR, T-SECTION, LOS ALAMOS -- CONTINUOUS</character>
    <dialogue>As Frank emerges, others DRIFT into the corridor, shocked...</dialogue>
    <character>TRUMAN</character>
    <parenthetical>(over PA)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>It is an atomic bomb. It is a harnessing of the basic power of the universe...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He hears BANGING and CHEERING- through the window SOLDIERS BEAT on trash-can lids. Frank and the scientists try uncertain smiles and handshakes...</scene_description>
    <character>INT. OPPENHEIMER'S OFFICE, LOS ALAMOS -- DAY</character>
    <dialogue>I listen to the radio-</dialogue>
    <character>TRUMAN</character>
    <parenthetical>(over radio)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>The force from which the sun draws its power has been loosed against those who brought war to the Far East...</dialogue>
    <character>CHARLOTTE (O.S.)</character>
    <dialogue>Groves on one!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I white-knuckle the phone...</scene_description>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <parenthetical>(over phone)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I'm very proud of you and all of your people.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>It went alright?</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <parenthetical>(over phone)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Apparently it went with a tremendous bang.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Everybody here is feeling Reasonably good about it. It's been a long road.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <parenthetical>(over phone)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I think one of the wisest things I ever did was when I selected the director of Los Alamos.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904 I gently put down the phone...</scene_description>
    <character>TRUMAN</character>
    <parenthetical>(over radio)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>We have spent two billion dollars...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. LOS ALAMOS -- CONTINUOUS</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I walk in a relieved daze...</scene_description>
    <character>TRUMAN</character>
    <parenthetical>(over radio)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>...on the greatest scientific gamble in history and won.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Horns HONK, soldiers CHEER... people WAVE... I nod back...</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. FULLER LODGE, LOS ALAMOS -- NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A restless, excitable CROWD is packed into the bleachers, like a HIGH-SCHOOL PEP RALLY...</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. LOBBY, FULLER LODGE, LOS ALAMOS -- CONTINUOUS</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Kitty reaches forward and adjusts my tie. We hear the sound of DOZENS OF FEET STAMPING RHYTHMICALLY...</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. FULLER LODGE, LOS ALAMOS -- CONTINUOUS</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The impatient crowd is STAMPING IN UNISON...</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. LOBBY, FULLER LODGE, LOS ALAMOS -- CONTINUOUS</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Kitty nods at me, I take a breath and PUSH through the door-</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. FULLER LODGE, LOS ALAMOS -- CONTINUOUS</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>As I walk past the rear bleachers I get a close view of DOZENS OF FEET STAMPING IN UNISON... the STAMPING FEET GET FASTER as I approach the stage... The STAMPING GROWS OPPRESSIVE- FASTER and FASTER until RHYTHM BREAKS, causing CACOPHONY which PEAKS as I step up... I raise my hands in a theatrically victorious gesture- the crowd CHEERS...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>The world will remember this day.</dialogue>
    <character>LOUDER CHEERING...</character>
    <dialogue>OPPENHEIMER</dialogue>
    <scene_description>It's too early to determine what the results of the bombing are... Though the crowd is still CHEERING, their sound DIMINISHES...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>But I'm sure the Japanese didn't like it-</dialogue>
    <scene_description>CHEERS. CHEERS. CHEERS. BUT NO SOUND. As I look out at the EXCITED FACES I can hear my own BREATHING... I carry on-</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I'm proud of what you accomplished...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The crowd seems to go NUTS, but all we hear is the QUIET CREAKING OF SEATS and SHUFFLE OF FEET as they REACT, HANDS SILENTLY CLAPPING, MOUTHS SILENTLY JAWING... I try again-</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I just wish we'd had it in time to use against the Germans...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The CHEERING AND CLAPPING PEOPLE GET TO THEIR FEET in MORTIFYING SILENCE... I stare at them, straining to hear something, then- PIERCING SCREAMS not cheers, as INSTANT DAYLIGHT POURS IN THE WINDOWS- BRIGHTER AND BRIGHTER- My eyes are pinpricks as I see CHEERING/SCREAMING MOUTHS STRETCHED GROTESQUELY WIDE- CRACK!!... !!!... !!!! ... THE THUNDER OF A THOUSAND STORMS ROLLS OVER, DEAFENING- I see FLESH RIPPED FROM THE SMILING YOUNG FACES... I see PLASMA ROILING and the DEVIL'S CLAW reach into the night sky... I see piles of ASHES where the young crowd was cheering...</scene_description>
    <character>INT. SAME -- LATER</character>
    <dialogue>I DRIFT through a SILENT, KINETIC WHIRLWIND OF CELEBRATION CLAPPED on the back, KISSED... NODDING and HOLLOW SMILES...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904 I see a YOUNG WOMAN LAUGHING... I STEP on something, look down to see my foot inside a CHARRED CORPSE... I look up, SHAKING OFF THE IMAGE... I see young people MAKING OUT under the bleachers, a hand up a sweater... I see the young woman again but NOW SHE JUST CRIES AND CRIES AND CRIES...</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. LOBBY, FULLER LODGE, LOS ALAMOS -- CONTINUOUS</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>DRIFTING through... I see a young man sitting, back to the wall, WEEPING, a woman trying to console him...</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. FULLER LODGE, LOS ALAMOS -- CONTINUOUS</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>As I exit, REVELERS RUN PAST, JOYFUL... turning, I see a young physicist at the wall, bent double... As I pass, he looks up, DISTRAUGHT, VOMIT AROUND HIS MOUTH.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. LOBBY, OVAL OFFICE, THE WHITE HOUSE -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Relief. Gentle formality. I look at the coffee table: Time magazine- me on the cover: "FATHER OF THE ATOMIC BOMB".</scene_description>
    <character>FEMALE VOICE (O.S.)</character>
    <dialogue>Dr Oppenheimer?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>An AIDE on softly clicking heels, points at the magazine.</scene_description>
    <character>AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>Nice picture.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I look up at her. Blank.</scene_description>
    <character>AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>President Truman will see you now.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. OVAL OFFICE -- CONTINUOUS</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Truman comes from behind his desk to shake my hand-</scene_description>
    <character>TRUMAN</character>
    <dialogue>Dr Oppenheimer, it's an honour.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Mr President. Secretary Byrnes.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Byrnes nods, sits. I take a seat. Truman leans on the desk.</scene_description>
    <character>TRUMAN</character>
    <dialogue>How's it feel to be the most famous man in the world?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I can't think of an answer.</scene_description>
    <character>TRUMAN</character>
    <dialogue>You helped save a lot of OPPENHEIMER American lives. What we did And Nagasaki. at Hiroshima was-</dialogue>
    <character>TRUMAN</character>
    <dialogue>What?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Hiroshima and Nagasaki.</dialogue>
    <character>TRUMAN</character>
    <dialogue>Obviously. Your invention let us bring our boys home.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Your country owes you a great debt.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>It was hardly my invention.</dialogue>
    <character>TRUMAN</character>
    <dialogue>It's you on the cover of Time.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(indicates Byrnes)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Jim here tells me you're concerned about an arms race with the Soviets.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Well, it's that... now is our chance to secure international cooperation on atomic energy, and I'm concerned-</dialogue>
    <character>TRUMAN</character>
    <dialogue>You know when the Soviets are gonna have a bomb?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I'm not sure I could give a- TRUMAN</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Never. I look at the President, incredulous...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Mr President, the Russians have good physicists and abundant resources-</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>TRUMAN</character>
    <dialogue>Abundant? I don't think so.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>They'll put everything they have...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I taper off.</scene_description>
    <character>TRUMAN</character>
    <dialogue>I hear you're leaving Los Alamos. What should we do with it?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Give it back to the Indians.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Truman laughs. But I'm not joking. Truman looks to Byrnes for help.</scene_description>
    <character>BYRNES</character>
    <dialogue>Dr Oppenheimer, if what you say about the Soviets is true, we have to build up Los Alamos, not shut it down.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I WRING my hands, deeply uncomfortable...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Mr President, I feel that I have blood on my hands.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Truman looks at me differently. Pulls the crisp white handkerchief from his breast pocket and offers it-</scene_description>
    <character>TRUMAN</character>
    <dialogue>You think anyone in Hiroshima or Nagasaki gives a shit who built the bomb? They care who dropped it. I did. Hiroshima isn't about you.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Truman gestures to Byrnes, they both RISE. I get to my feet. Awkward. As I leave I hear -</scene_description>
    <character>TRUMAN</character>
    <dialogue>Don't let that crybaby back in here.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The door of the Oval Office CLOSES on me...</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Robert saw that hand-wringing got him nowhere...</dialogue>
    <character>INT. LOBBY, OVAL OFFICE, THE WHITE HOUSE -- CONTINUOUS</character>
    <dialogue>Walking past I notice my face staring back at me from the cover of the magazine on the table...</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>By the time I met him, he'd fully embraced his 'father of the bomb' reputation...</dialogue>
    <character>CUT TO:</character>
    <dialogue>INT. SENATE OFFICE -- DAY (B&amp;W)</dialogue>
    <dialogue>Strauss sits talking with the Senate Aide.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>He used his profile to influence policy...</dialogue>
    <character>INSERT CUT: LIFE MAGAZINE- "OPPENHEIMER, NO. 1 THINKER ON</character>
    <dialogue>ATOMIC ENERGY"... OPPENHEIMER RUNS A GAUNTLET OF</dialogue>
    <character>FLASHBULBS... OPPENHEIMER AND KITTY ARE PHOTOGRAPHED AT OLDEN</character>
    <dialogue>MANOR...</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>But all along- with McCarthy on the rise- he knew he was vulnerable. His brother was blacklisted by every university in the country...</dialogue>
    <character>INSERT CUT: FRANK WORKS A RANCH IN COLORADO...</character>
    <dialogue>STRAUSS</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Lomanitz wound up working the railroad, laying track...</scene_description>
    <character>INSERT CUT: LOMANITZ SWINGS A HAMMER...</character>
    <dialogue>STRAUSS</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Chevalier went into exile... 8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904 INSERT CUT: CHEVALIER CARRIES SHOPPING, STEPPING AROUND CHICKENS IN A RURAL FRENCH ALLEY...</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>But none of that stopped Robert from om pushing the GAC to recommend arms control instead of the H-bomb.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>INSERT CUT: STRAUSS MOVES THE FLOWERS ON THE TABLE IN THE HOTEL CONFERENCE ROOM, WATCHING OPPENHEIMER...</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>He was devastated when that didn't go his way...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>INSERT CUT: HEADLINE: "TRUMAN ANNOUNCES H-BOMB PROGRAM"...</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. BALLROOM, PLAZA HOTEL -- NIGHT (COLOUR)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Drink in hand, I watch the room sing 'Happy Birthday' to Strauss. Ruth Tolman is next to me, staring at the NEWSPAPER.</scene_description>
    <character>RUTH</character>
    <dialogue>I miss Richard more than I can bear...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I turn to Ruth, sympathetic.</scene_description>
    <character>RUTH</character>
    <dialogue>But part of me's glad he didn't live to see where this is all going.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I nod, understanding. She downs her drink and leaves.</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS (O.S.)</character>
    <dialogue>Robert, my son and his fiancée are desperate to meet the father of the atomic bomb...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Strauss is there with his adult children- I glance at them, raise a glass, then turn away. Strauss stands there, humiliated. The couple awkwardly moves off.</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Is this a bad time?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>What do you think, Lewis?</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>I think it must have been a blow for you-</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>For the world.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>The world? What does Fuchs mean to rest of the world?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Fuchs? Klaus Fuchs?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Strauss looks at me with concern...</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>You haven't heard. Klaus Fuchs, the British scientist you put onto the implosion team at Los Alamos?</dialogue>
    <character>INSERT CUT: FUCHS HANDS OPPENHEIMER HIS PIPE...</character>
    <dialogue>STRAUSS</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Turns out he was spying for the Soviets. The whole time. I'm sorry, Robert, you must feel awful. (gestures to bar) Have another. On me. Strauss moves off. I stand there. Frozen.</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>After the truth about Fuchs came out, they stepped up surveillance on Robert. He knew his phone was tapped-</dialogue>
    <character>CUT TO:</character>
    <dialogue>INT. SENATE OFFICE -- DAY (B&amp;W)</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>He was followed everywhere...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904 INSERT CUT: OPPENHEIMER, DRIVING, CHECKS HIS REAR-VIEW MIRROR, SPOTS A SEDAN FOLLOWING HIM...</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>His trash picked through...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>INSERT CUT: KITTY, FROM THE KITCHEN WINDOW, SPOTS A SUITED MAN PICKING THROUGH THEIR TRASH...</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>But it never stopped him speaking his mind.</dialogue>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>A man of conviction?</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Sure. Or maybe he thought fame could actually protect him. When Eisenhower took over, Robert saw one more chance. He took it...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CORPORATE AUDITORIUM -- NIGHT (B&amp;W)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Oppenheimer is lecturing... Strauss is in the crowd...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>America and Russia may be likened to two scorpions in a bottle, each capable of killing the other, but only at the risk of his own life. There are various aspects of this policy which I would like to discuss but can't. Follies that can occur only when even the men who know the facts can find no one to talk about them, when the facts are too secret for discussion, and thus for thought. Candor is the only remedy. Officials in Washington have to start levelling with the American people, and telling them what the enemy already know about the atomic armaments race.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Strauss notices two generals exchanging unfavorable looks.</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>A lot of scientists blame me, but how was I supposed to protect him?</dialogue>
    <character>INT. SENATE OFFICE -- DAY (B&amp;W)</character>
    <dialogue>STRAUSS</dialogue>
    <scene_description>That was the last straw for Robert's enemies.</scene_description>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>So he had to lose his security clearance.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>And with it, his credibility.</dialogue>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>But how could they do it? He was a war hero- and he'd already told everyone about his past...</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Borden dredged it all up again.</dialogue>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>But how could Borden get access to Oppenheimer's FBI file? Could it have been Nichols?</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>I can't imagine he'd do that. But whoever did unleashed a firestorm that burned a path from the White House right to my desk at the AEC. You see them in there trying to hang Oppenheimer around my neck. I've worked my whole life to get here- the Cabinet of the United States of America- and now, in front of the entire country, they want to put me back in my place... a lowly shoe salesman.</dialogue>
    <character>COUNSEL</character>
    <dialogue>Lewis, we can win this thing.</dialogue>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>I think we can make the Senate grasp that you did your duty, painful though it was. Will Hill's testimony back that up?</dialogue>
    <character>COUNSEL</character>
    <dialogue>Hill should be fine.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>I don't really know him, but he was one of Szilard's boys in Chicago. And they never forgave Oppenheimer...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. LECTURE HALL, LOS ALAMOS -- NIGHT (COLOUR)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Serber and MORRISON lecture using slides we never see.</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>...for not supporting their petition against bombing Japan.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I watch as part of a large audience.</scene_description>
    <character>MORRISON</character>
    <dialogue>This was taken thirty-one days after the bombing. Virtually everyone in the street for nearly a mile around was instantly and seriously burned by the heat of the bomb.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Serber changes the slide. I react slightly.</scene_description>
    <character>MORRISON</character>
    <dialogue>The hot flash burned suddenly and strangely.</dialogue>
    <character>SERBER</character>
    <dialogue>The Japanese told us of people who wore striped clothing upon whom the skin was burned in stripes.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Changes slide. I LOOK AWAY from the screen. I hear the sound of FEET STAMPING as Morrison continues...</scene_description>
    <character>MORRISON</character>
    <dialogue>There were many who thought themselves lucky, who crawled out of the ruins of their homes only slightly injured. But they died anyway. They died days or weeks later from the radium-like rays emitted in great numbers at the moment of the explosion.</dialogue>
    <character>EXT. T-SECTION, LOS ALAMOS -- NIGHT</character>
    <dialogue>I light my pipe. Teller comes up.</dialogue>
    <character>TELLER</character>
    <dialogue>Did you read this crap in the papers? A British physicist saying the atomic bombings weren't the last act of World War II but the first act of this cold war with Russia.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Which physicist?</dialogue>
    <character>TELLER</character>
    <dialogue>I think you knew him. Patrick Blackett?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I remember-</scene_description>
    <character>INSERT CUT: BLACKETT TAKES A MOUTHFUL OF APPLE...</character>
    <dialogue>I smile to myself, rueful...</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>He may not be wrong. We bombed an enemy that was essentially defeated.</dialogue>
    <character>TELLER</character>
    <dialogue>Robert, you have all the influence now.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I look at Teller.</scene_description>
    <character>TELLER</character>
    <dialogue>Urge them to continue my research on the Super.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I neither can nor will, Edward.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Teller looks at me. Hurt.</scene_description>
    <character>TELLER</character>
    <dialogue>Why?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>It's not the right use of our resources.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>TELLER</character>
    <dialogue>Is that what you really believe?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I say nothing.</scene_description>
    <character>TELLER</character>
    <dialogue>J. Robert Oppenheimer. Sphinx-like guru of the atom. Nobody knows what you believe. Do you?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>I hope that in years to come you will look back on your work here with pride...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. FULLER LODGE, LOS ALAMOS -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I give my leaving address, Groves by my side. The THOUSANDS of members of the Los Alamos community listen...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>But today that pride must be tempered with a profound concern. If atomic weapons are to be added to the arsenals of a warring world... then the day will come when people will curse the name of Los Alamos and Hiroshima. The peoples of this world must unite or they will perish. The atomic bomb has spelled out these words for all men to understand.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>THUNDEROUS APPLAUSE echoes around the mountains...</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SENATE OFFICE -- MORNING (B&amp;W)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Strauss and Counsel drink coffee. The Senate Aide BURSTS in-</scene_description>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>Sorry, Admiral- I stopped off to get this-</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The Senate Aide holds up TIME MAGAZINE: Strauss is on the cover- "THE STRAUSS AFFAIR, SENATE V. PRESIDENT".</scene_description>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>It seems pretty favorable...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The Counsel looks over Senate Aide's shoulder-</scene_description>
    <character>COUNSEL</character>
    <dialogue>There's Oppenheimer. What's the caption?</dialogue>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>'J. Robert Oppenheimer- Strauss fought him...</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(pauses)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>...and the US won.'</dialogue>
    <character>COUNSEL</character>
    <dialogue>That'll work.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The Senate Aide is perturbed. Looks up at Strauss.</scene_description>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>Those are your words. From yesterday.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>We needed to pivot.</dialogue>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>But how could you know what Time magazine would write...?</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Henry Luce is an old friend.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The Senate Aide stares at Strauss, realizing...</scene_description>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>You've sat there and let me tell you how this is done. But you've been far ahead. All along...</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Survival in Washington is about knowing how to get things done.</dialogue>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>You get things done. What was it you said about Borden? Why get caught holding the knife yourself? I'm beginning to think that Borden was holding the knife for you.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Oh?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>As Chairman of the AEC, you had access to Oppenheimer's file...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -- DAY (COLOUR)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I sit there testifying. Robb checks his notes...</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>In the years following the war, would you say you exerted a great influence on the atomic policies of the USA?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I think 'great' would be an overstatement.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Really? If we look at the issue of isotopes... were you not personally responsible for destroying all opposition to their export?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I think back to my congressional testimony...</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CONGRESSIONAL HEARING ROOM -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The room is all chuckles and smiles at my performance...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>You can use a bottle of beer for making atomic weapons, in fact, you do... I'd say isotopes are less useful for atomic energy than electronic components, but more useful than a sandwich. I'd put them somewhere in between.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The room LAUGHS appreciatively. I lean over to Volpe -</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>How'd I do?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Volpe glances back at Lewis Strauss, eyes down, ENRAGED...</scene_description>
    <character>VOLPE</character>
    <dialogue>Maybe a little too well, Robert.</dialogue>
    <character>INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -- DAY</character>
    <dialogue>OPPENHEIMER</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I was the spokesman, but the opinion was unanimous amongst scientists.</scene_description>
    <character>GRAY</character>
    <dialogue>That will do for today. We'll reconvene tomorrow when we'll hear from Dr Isidor Rabi.</dialogue>
    <character>INT. HOTEL ROOM, WASHINGTON, DC -- NIGHT</character>
    <dialogue>I sit on the bed, Garrison and his team go over notes. Kitty raids the mini-bar.</dialogue>
    <character>GARRISON</character>
    <dialogue>Rabi will help us. But it's going to come down to how much influence Borden has been able to exert on Teller-</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Kitty is laughing as she opens a miniature with her teeth.</scene_description>
    <character>GARRISON</character>
    <dialogue>Did I say something funny?</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>Borden, Borden, Borden. We all know it's Strauss.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Kitty, Lewis brought me to Princeton.</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>And you humiliated him in front of Congress.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>That was six years ago.</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>The truly vindictive are as patient as saints.</dialogue>
    <character>GARRISON</character>
    <dialogue>Strauss claims to be neutral.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Kitty THROWS the miniature at me- it SMASHES into the wall- 8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>Wake up! It's always been Strauss- and you know it. Why won't you fight him, for Christ's sake?!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She stalks into the bathroom, SLAMMING the door. Garrison watches me clean up the miniature...</scene_description>
    <character>GARRISON</character>
    <dialogue>I've said it before, Robert. We should not put her on the stand-</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SENATE OFFICE -- MORNING (B&amp;W)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The Senate Aide stares at Strauss in morbid fascination...</scene_description>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>It wasn't Nichols or Hoover STRAUSS or one of Truman's guys- it Borden didn't take any was you. You gave the file to convincing... Borden... you set him on Oppenheimer, convinced him to-</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. NICHOLS' OFFICE, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -- NIGHT (B&amp;W)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Nichols is behind the desk, but Strauss commands the room, instructing Borden...</scene_description>
    <character>NICHOLS</character>
    <dialogue>Take your time, use the entire file. Write up your conclusions and send them to the FBI.</dialogue>
    <character>BORDEN</character>
    <dialogue>The material's extensive- but it isn't new.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Your conclusions will be. And they'll have to be answered.</dialogue>
    <character>NICHOLS</character>
    <dialogue>Hoover passes them to McCarthy?</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <parenthetical>(shakes head)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Oppenheimer's too slippery for that self-promoting clown.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>I've talked it over with Hoover- he'll hold McCarthy at bay while you do this at the AEC.</dialogue>
    <character>NICHOLS</character>
    <dialogue>A trial?</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>No trial. You can't give Oppenheimer a platform, you can't martyr him. We need a systematic destruction of Oppenheimer's credibility so he can never again speak on matters of national security.</dialogue>
    <character>BORDEN</character>
    <dialogue>What, then?</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>A shabby little room, far from the limelight...</dialogue>
    <character>INSERT CUT: ROOM 2022 IS OPENED UP. DUSTED, TABLES</character>
    <dialogue>ARRANGED...</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>A simple bureaucratic procedure- his Q clearance is up for renewal.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(points at Borden)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>You send your accusations to the FBI...</dialogue>
    <character>INSERT CUT: BORDEN PULLS PAPER FROM HIS TYPEWRITER. HE SEALS</character>
    <dialogue>AN ENVELOPE...</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Hoover sends them to the AEC...</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(points at Nichols)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>You're forced to act. You write up an indictment...</dialogue>
    <character>INT. FRONT HALL, STRAUSS RESIDENCE -- NIGHT (B&amp;W)</character>
    <dialogue>Strauss opens the door to Oppenheimer...</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Tell Oppenheimer his security clearance is not being renewed...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. LIVING ROOM, STRAUSS HOUSE -- NIGHT (B&amp;W)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Nichols hands the indictment to Oppenheimer, who sits and reads. Strauss hands Oppenheimer a drink...</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>But offer him the chance to appeal.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Oppenheimer looks up from the letter.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Can I keep this?</dialogue>
    <character>NICHOLS</character>
    <dialogue>No.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>As you can see, Robert, it's not yet signed. If you do decide to appeal, they'll have to send you a copy...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Oppenheimer rises. In a daze. Strauss takes his arm...</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. NICHOLS' OFFICE, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -- NIGHT (B&amp;W)</stage_direction>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>When he appeals, I appoint a board...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>INSERT CUT: THE GRAY BOARD TAKE THEIR SEATS IN ROOM...</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>They will, of course, have counsel-</dialogue>
    <scene_description>INSERT CUT: ROGER ROBB TAKES HIS SEAT...</scene_description>
    <character>NICHOLS</character>
    <dialogue>A prosecutor?</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>In all but name.</dialogue>
    <character>NICHOLS</character>
    <dialogue>Who?</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Roger Robb.</dialogue>
    <character>NICHOLS</character>
    <dialogue>Ouch.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Robb will have security clearance to examine Oppenheimer's file...</dialogue>
    <character>INSERT CUT: ROBB OPENS A MASSIVE BLACK BINDER...</character>
    <dialogue>STRAUSS</dialogue>
    <scene_description>As will the Gray Board...</scene_description>
    <character>INSERT CUT: A BLACK BINDER IS PLACED IN FRONT OF EACH BOARD</character>
    <dialogue>MEMBER...</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Defence counsel will not.</dialogue>
    <character>INSERT CUT: GARRISON, AT HIS TABLE IN ROOM 2022, LOOKS</character>
    <dialogue>COVETOUSLY AT THE BLACK BINDERS GRACING EACH PLACE BUT HIS...</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>A closed hearing- no audience, no reporters, no burden of proof.</dialogue>
    <character>NICHOLS</character>
    <dialogue>No burden of proof?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Strauss sips his drink. Smiles at Nichols...</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>We're not convicting, just denying.</dialogue>
    <character>INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -- DAY (B&amp;W)</character>
    <dialogue>Oppenheimer is seated at the witness table...</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>This answer is a summary of relevant aspects of my life in more or less chronological order...</dialogue>
    <character>INT. SENATE OFFICE -- DAY (B&amp;W)</character>
    <dialogue>The Senate Aide looks like he ate a bad nut.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>What is it you said? 'This is just how it's done'?</dialogue>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>Forgive my naïveté.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Amateurs seek the sun and get eaten, power stays in the shadows.</dialogue>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <parenthetical>(points to Time magazine)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>You're out of the shadows, now.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>That's why this has to work.</dialogue>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>Well, Teller's testifying this morning - that'll help, then Hill is in the afternoon.</dialogue>
    <character>COUNSEL</character>
    <dialogue>Hill should help us, too.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>CLOSE ON: A LETTER- AEC LETTERHEAD- "DEAR DR OPPENHEIMER..."</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS (O.S.)</character>
    <dialogue>As you can see, it's not yet signed...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. LIVING ROOM, STRAUSS HOUSE -- LATER (COLOUR)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I look up from Nichols' letter- SHELL-SHOCKED.</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>If you do decide to appeal, they'll have to send you a copy...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I hand the letter back to Nichols. Strauss takes my arm...</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STRAUSS HOUSE -- CONTINUOUS</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Strauss gently guides me down the steps...</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Take my car and driver. I insist.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I'll have to consult my lawyers.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Of course. But don't take too long, I can't keep Nichols at bay. I'm sorry it's come to this, Robert.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Strauss, like a parent, puts me into the back of his car.</scene_description>
    <character>INT. STRAUSS CAR -- NIGHT</character>
    <dialogue>I sit in the back, shadows flicking across my face...</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Nichols wants me to fight so that he can get it all in the record...</dialogue>
    <character>INT. VOLPE'S HOUSE -- NIGHT</character>
    <dialogue>Kitty and I sit with Joe Volpe.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Strauss thinks I should walk away...</dialogue>
    <character>VOLPE</character>
    <dialogue>You could. Your security clearance expires tomorrow. Just let it go.</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>You'd be accepting the charges! You'll lose your job. Your reputation, your place in history! We'll lose our house. Robert, we have to fight.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I look at Kitty. Nod.</scene_description>
    <character>VOLPE</character>
    <dialogue>As AEC Counsel, I can't represent you. I'll call Lloyd Garrison.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>He's good.</dialogue>
    <character>VOLPE</character>
    <dialogue>The best. But I have to warn you...</dialogue>
    <character>INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -- DAY</character>
    <dialogue>I watch Garrison scramble to make notes...</dialogue>
    <character>VOLPE (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>This won't be a fair fight.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>During your interview with Boris Pash in 1943, did you refer to microfilm?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>No.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Robb consults a paper in his black binder.</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>You never said 'a man at the consulate expert in the use of microfilm'?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Not specifically.</dialogue>
    <character>GARRISON</character>
    <dialogue>I'd like to know what document Mr Robb is quoting from, and if we might be furnished with a copy.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>The document is classified.</dialogue>
    <character>GARRISON</character>
    <dialogue>Members of the board, we're now hearing some new account of the interview... shouldn't we get back to firsthand information?</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>This is first-hand.</dialogue>
    <character>GARRISON</character>
    <dialogue>How so?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Robb looks at Gray. Who nods.</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>There's a recording of the interview.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Garrison is shocked. I shake my head.</scene_description>
    <character>GARRISON</character>
    <dialogue>You've let my client sit up here and potentially perjure himself and all this time you had a recording-?</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>No one told your client to misrepresent his former answers-</dialogue>
    <character>GARRISON</character>
    <dialogue>Misrepresent? It was twelve years ago!</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(to the board)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Can we listen to this recording?</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Mr Garrison, you don't have clearance.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I SNAP at the absurdity-</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>But you're reading it into the transcript!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Garrison puts a calming hand on my arm-</scene_description>
    <character>GARRISON</character>
    <dialogue>Is this proceeding interested in truth or entrapment? Because if it's truth...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Garrison points at the BLACK BINDERS in front of them all-</scene_description>
    <character>GARRISON</character>
    <dialogue>Where's the disclosure? Where's the witness list?</dialogue>
    <character>GRAY</character>
    <dialogue>Mr Garrison, this is not a trial- as you're well aware. Evidentiary rules do not apply. We're dealing with national security.</dialogue>
    <character>GARRISON</character>
    <dialogue>How does national security prevent the prosecution from providing us a list of witnesses?!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Gray looks at Garrison, stony-faced.</scene_description>
    <character>GRAY</character>
    <dialogue>Perhaps a brief recess is in OPPENHEIMER order! If I may? You gentlemen have</dialogue>
    <scene_description>my words. If you say it's from a transcript then I'll accept it. I've already explained that I made up a cock-and-bull story. 8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>But not the level of detail. Why would anyone present such an elabourate fiction?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Because I was an idiot. I found myself trying to give a tip to the intelligence people, without realizing that when you give a tip you have to offer the whole story. Asked for details, I went off on a false pattern. There was no microfilm, no consular attaché. There weren't three or more people involved on the project. There was one person involved. That was me.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Why lie?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Clearly with the intention of not revealing who was the intermediary.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Your friend Haakon Chevalier. The Communist.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Yes.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Is he still your friend?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I look from smug Robb to the expectant board members...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Chevalier is my friend.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Robb backs down, SATISFIED.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CORRIDOR OUTSIDE ROOM 2022 -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Oppenheimer and Garrison take a break. Rabi approaches.</scene_description>
    <character>GARRISON</character>
    <dialogue>Dr Rabi, thanks for coming.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Garrison looks around to see Robb conferring with his team.</scene_description>
    <character>GARRISON</character>
    <parenthetical>(lowered voice)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Do you know anyone the prosecution has called?</dialogue>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>Teller, obviously.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(looks at Oppenheimer)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>They've asked Lawrence.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>What did he say?</dialogue>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>He wasn't going to help them...</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>But?</dialogue>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>Strauss told him that you and Ruth Tolman had been having an affair for years. The whole time you lived with them in Pasadena...</dialogue>
    <character>INSERT CUT: I SIP FROM RUTH'S DRINK AT THE CHRISTMAS PARTY.</character>
    <dialogue>RICHARD ENTERS, BANGING SNOW OFF HIS SHOULDERS...</dialogue>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>He convinced Lawrence that Richard died of a broken heart.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>That's absurd.</dialogue>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>Which part?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>The broken heart. Richard never found out.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Rabi tries not to smile. Shakes his head.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Is Lawrence going to testify?</dialogue>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>I don't know.</dialogue>
    <character>INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -- DAY</character>
    <dialogue>Rabi is testifying.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>GARRISON</character>
    <dialogue>Dr Rabi, what governmental positions do you currently hold?</dialogue>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>I'm Chairman of the General Advisory Committee to the AEC, succeeding Dr Oppenheimer.</dialogue>
    <character>GARRISON</character>
    <dialogue>And how long have you known Dr Oppenheimer?</dialogue>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>Since 1928. I know him quite well.</dialogue>
    <character>GARRISON</character>
    <dialogue>Well enough to speak on the bearing of his character, loyalty and associations?</dialogue>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>Dr Oppenheimer is a man of upstanding character, loyal to the United States, to his friends and to the institutions of which he is a part. I've examined his security file, and in spite of the associations in there, I do not believe Dr Oppenheimer is a security risk, and that these associations from the past should bar him from continuing as a consultant to the AEC.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. CORRIDOR OUTSIDE ROOM 2022 -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I sit, exhausted. A segment of orange drops into my lap -</scene_description>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>Eat.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I 'sip' at the orange. Rabi spots Lawrence coming down the corridor- Rabi straightens to his full height- STARES DOWN Lawrence, who looks from Rabi to me. Then TURNS and leaves.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>What was that?</dialogue>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>Nothing to worry about.</dialogue>
    <character>INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -- LATER</character>
    <dialogue>Robb cross-examines Rabi-</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Dr Rabi, after the Russian A-bomb test did Dr Lawrence come to see you prior to the GAC meeting?</dialogue>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>You'd be better off asking him.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>I fully intend to. Did he come to you about the Hydrogen bomb?</dialogue>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>Yes. We all felt that after the Russian explosion we had to do something to regain our position.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>So you agreed with those who felt we should launch a programme for the Super at that time?</dialogue>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>No. There were all kinds of legitimate concerns about the allocation of our resources.</dialogue>
    <character>GRAY</character>
    <dialogue>Would you say Dr Oppenheimer was unalterably opposed to the H-bomb?</dialogue>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>No. He thought a fusion programme would come at the expense of our awfully good fission programme.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>But that proved not to be the case?</dialogue>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>In the event, both could be done. Los Alamos, which Dr Oppenheimer founded, rose to the occasion and worked miracles, absolute miracles.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>May I ask one more question? A purely hypothetical question.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Suppose this board should not be satisfied that in his testimony here Dr Oppenheimer had told the whole truth... What would you say then about whether or not he ought to be cleared?</dialogue>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>If you want to set me up on the board then I'll give you an answer. But I've never hidden my opinion that I think this whole proceeding is a most unfortunate one.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Why?</dialogue>
    <character>RABI</character>
    <dialogue>He's a consultant- you don't want to consult the guy? Don't. Why go through all this against a man who's accomplished what Dr Oppenheimer has? Look at his record- we have an A-bomb and a whole series of it, and we have a whole series of Super bombs and what more do you want, mermaids?</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SENATE COMMITTEE HEARING ROOM -- DAY (B&amp;W)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Strauss watches with satisfaction as Teller testifies.</scene_description>
    <character>TELLER</character>
    <dialogue>...that's why I'm here today. To express the warm support for science and scientists Mr Strauss has shown over the years I've known him.</dialogue>
    <character>CHAIRMAN</character>
    <dialogue>Thank you, Dr Teller. We'll break now, unless there's any immediate business.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Senator, I'd like to once again request that we're furnished with a list of witnesses.</dialogue>
    <character>CHAIRMAN</character>
    <dialogue>And I'll remind the nominee that we don't always have that information in advance. We do know that Dr Hill will be here after lunch.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>With that, the Chairman BANGS his gavel...</scene_description>
    <character>CUT TO:</character>
    <dialogue>INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -- DAY (COLOUR)</dialogue>
    <dialogue>Robb addresses the board...</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Our next scheduled witness, Dr Lawrence, has apparently come down with... colitis...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I glance sideways at Garrison, who almost smiles-</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>So I'll proceed instead with William Borden.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I watch as Borden is sworn in.</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Mr Borden, as a result of your study of Dr Oppenheimer, did you reach certain conclusions?</dialogue>
    <character>BORDEN</character>
    <dialogue>I did.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Did there co me a time when you expressed those conclusions in a letter to Mr J. Edgar Hoover of the Federal Bureau of Investigation?</dialogue>
    <character>BORDEN</character>
    <dialogue>That is correct.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Prior to writing that letter, did you discuss the writing of it with anybody connected with the Atomic Energy Commission?</dialogue>
    <character>BORDEN</character>
    <dialogue>I did not.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Do you have a copy of the letter with you.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Robb's assistant distributes copies of the letter...</scene_description>
    <character>BORDEN</character>
    <dialogue>I have one in front of me.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Would you be good enough to read it?</dialogue>
    <character>GARRISON</character>
    <dialogue>A moment, please!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Garrison holds up a finger, FRANTICALLY reading ahead-</scene_description>
    <character>GRAY</character>
    <dialogue>What's the purpose of the delay? He's simply going to read this.</dialogue>
    <character>GARRISON</character>
    <dialogue>Mr Chairman, this is the first we've seen of this letter- and I see statements, at least one, which I don't think anybody would be happy to have go into the record- accusations that have not before been made and are not part of the indictment from Nichols.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Garrison holds up the letter -</scene_description>
    <character>GARRISON</character>
    <dialogue>Is it the opinion of the board that these are matters into which inquiry should now be directed?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I scan down the letter for what he's seen. My face falls...</scene_description>
    <character>GRAY</character>
    <dialogue>Testimony of this witness is not in any way going to broaden the inquiry.</dialogue>
    <character>GARRISON</character>
    <dialogue>How can it avoid it, sir? Supposing you should believe the witness? Mr Robb is tasked by this board with calling in witnesses, and he brings in one to make accusations of a kind that I don't think belong here.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Mr Chairman, the witness wrote this letter on his own initiative laying out evidence which has already been before the board. His conclusions are valid testimony just like the positive conclusions of friends of Dr Oppenheimer. It cuts both ways.</dialogue>
    <character>GARRISON</character>
    <dialogue>How long has counsel been in possession of the letter?</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Mr Garrison, I don't think I should be subject to cross-examination by you.</dialogue>
    <character>GRAY</character>
    <dialogue>Mr Garrison, given that we on the board have all read the letter, isn't it better to have it in the record?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Garrison says nothing. He looks at me, frustrated.</scene_description>
    <character>GRAY</character>
    <dialogue>Let's proceed.</dialogue>
    <character>BORDEN</character>
    <dialogue>'Dear Mr Hoover, the purpose of this letter is to state my opinion, based upon years of study of the available classified evidence, that more probably than not J. Robert Oppenheimer is an agent of the Soviet Union.'</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I turn the letter face down, staring at its blank whiteness...</scene_description>
    <character>BORDEN</character>
    <dialogue>'The following conclusions are justified. One: Between 1929 and 1942, more probably than not, J. Robert Oppenheimer was a sufficiently hardened Communist that he volunteered information to the Soviets. Two: More probably than not, he has since been functioning as an espionage agent.'</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I watch the STENOGRAPHER calmly type this into the record... 8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>BORDEN</character>
    <dialogue>'Three: More probably than not, he has since acted under Soviet directive in influencing United States military, atomic energy, intelligence, and diplomatic policy.'</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Devastated, I cannot meet the eye of anyone in the room. Garrison gets up from his place. Sits down next to me.</scene_description>
    <character>GARRISON</character>
    <dialogue>I'm sorry, Robert.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Isn't anyone ever going to tell the truth about what's happening here?</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SENATE COMMITTEE HEARING ROOM -- DAY (B&amp;W)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Strauss and his Counsel take their seats as the Chairman calls to order. Strauss looks around the room, CHEERFULLY.</scene_description>
    <character>CHAIRMAN</character>
    <dialogue>We will now hear from Dr David Hill.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Strauss peers at a FAMILIAR man in GLASSES, DAVID HILL- Szilard's note-taking scientist WHOSE PEN OPPENHEIMER GRABBED...</scene_description>
    <character>CHAIRMAN</character>
    <dialogue>Dr Hill, would you care to make a statement?</dialogue>
    <character>HILL</character>
    <dialogue>Thank you. I have been asked to testify about Lewis Strauss, a man who has given years of service in high positions of government and who is known to be earnest, hard- working and intelligent.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Strauss glances at Counsel, satisfied.</scene_description>
    <character>HILL</character>
    <dialogue>The views I have to express are my own, but I believe that much I have to say will help indicate why most of the scientists in this country would prefer to see Mr Strauss completely out of the government.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Strauss narrows his eyes...</scene_description>
    <character>SENATOR PASTORE</character>
    <parenthetical>(friendly lob)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>You're referring to the hostility of certain scientists directed at Mr Strauss because of his commitment to security, as demonstrated in the Oppenheimer affair?</dialogue>
    <character>HILL</character>
    <dialogue>No.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Hill takes a sip of water before continuing...</scene_description>
    <character>HILL</character>
    <dialogue>Because of the personal vindictiveness he demonstrated against Dr Oppenheimer, and against all those who have disagreed with his official positions.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Counsel turns to Strauss, who is FIXATED on Hill. The Senate Aide REACTS, surprised. MURMURS echo through the chamber...</scene_description>
    <character>HILL</character>
    <dialogue>In my ten years observation of Mr Strauss I have seen his incapacity to change a position, the subordination of his integrity to the attainment of political goals and an obsessive quest for popular and professional approval...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The audience REACTS- Strauss SHAKES his head- the Chairman BANGS the gavel-</scene_description>
    <character>CHAIRMAN</character>
    <dialogue>Order!</dialogue>
    <character>CUT TO:</character>
    <dialogue>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -- DAY (COLOUR)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Vannevar Bush is sworn in.</scene_description>
    <character>BUSH</character>
    <dialogue>It appears to most scientists around the country that Oppenheimer is now being pilloried and put through an ordeal because he expressed his honest opinions. The written charges against him are in a poorly written indictment which the board should have rejected from the outset.</dialogue>
    <character>EVANS</character>
    <dialogue>Dr Bush, I thought I was performing a service to my country in hearing this case.</dialogue>
    <character>BUSH</character>
    <dialogue>No board in this country should sit in judgement of a man because he expressed strong opinions. If you want to try that case, you can try me- I have expressed strong opinions, often unpopular, many times. I'm doing so right now. When a man is pilloried for doing that, this country is in a severe state... excuse me, gentlemen, if I become stirred, but I am.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SENATE COMMITTEE HEARING ROOM -- DAY (B&amp;W)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Strauss fumes as Hill reads his statement.</scene_description>
    <character>HILL</character>
    <dialogue>From the standpoint of public welfare, the most injurious exercise of personal vindictiveness in which Lewis Straus has engaged was in the personnel security prosecution of J. Robert Oppenheimer, who had not hesitated to disagree with Mr Strauss on certain questions of fundamental policy.</dialogue>
    <character>HILL</character>
    <dialogue>Oppenheimer made mincemeat out of Strauss' position on the shipments of isotopes to Norway, and Strauss never forgave him this public humiliation. Another controversy between them centreed around their differences in judgement on how the H-bomb would contribute to national security. Oppenheimer had considerable influence and prestige, and Strauss was able to find a few ambitious men who also disagreed with Oppenheimer's position, and envied him his prestige in government circles.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Teller, in the audience, stares at Hill...</scene_description>
    <character>HILL</character>
    <dialogue>Strauss turned to the personnel security system in order to destroy Oppenheimer's effectiveness-</dialogue>
    <character>SENATOR PASTORE</character>
    <dialogue>But, Dr Hill, we've already heard that Mr Strauss did not bring the charges, or participate in the hearings against Dr Oppenheimer.</dialogue>
    <character>HILL</character>
    <dialogue>I realize that Mr Strauss didn't sign the letter of charges, but I think when all of the evidence is viewed, it becomes highly plausible that the Oppenheimer matter was initiated and carried through largely through the animus of Lewis Strauss.</dialogue>
    <character>CUT TO:</character>
    <dialogue>INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -- DAY (COLOUR)</dialogue>
    <dialogue>Groves is testifying.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>General, would you clear Dr Oppenheimer today?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>Under my interpretation of the Atomic Energy Act, which did not exist when I hired Dr Oppenheimer in 1942... I would not clear Dr Oppenheimer today if I were a member of the commission.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Thank you, General.</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>But I'm not sure I could've cleared any of those guys.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>That's all.</dialogue>
    <character>GARRISON</character>
    <dialogue>General, Dr Oppenheimer had no responsibility for the selection or clearance of Klaus Fuchs, did he?</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>No, not at all.</dialogue>
    <character>GARRISON</character>
    <dialogue>You wouldn't want to leave with this board even the remotest suggestion that you're here questioning Dr Oppenheimer's basic loyalty to the United States in the operation of Los Alamos?</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>By no means. I hope I didn't lead anybody to think otherwise for an instant.</dialogue>
    <character>GARRISON</character>
    <dialogue>Would you say that the revocation of Dr Oppenheimer's position would be in the public interest?</dialogue>
    <character>GROVES</character>
    <dialogue>The revocation under such extreme publicity I think would be most unfortunate, not because of the effect on Dr Oppenheimer- that I leave to one side- but because of the disastrous effect upon the attitude of the scientists of this country toward doing government research.</dialogue>
    <character>GRAY</character>
    <dialogue>Thank you, General.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Groves gets up, walks past me with a formal nod.</scene_description>
    <character>INT. CORRIDOR OUTSIDE ROOM 2022 -- DAY</character>
    <dialogue>Garrison checks his watch.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>She'll be here.</dialogue>
    <character>GARRISON</character>
    <dialogue>Do you even want her here?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Only a fool or an adolescent presumes to know someone else's relationship, and you're neither, Lloyd.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Kitty comes around the corner. Unsteady. I watch her walk towards us, not entirely straight... she catches my eye-</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Kitty and I, we're grown-ups. We've walked through fire together. And she'll do fine.</dialogue>
    <character>INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -- DAY</character>
    <dialogue>Kitty is at the witness table. From behind I can see her fiddling distractedly with her purse...</dialogue>
    <character>GARRISON</character>
    <dialogue>Mrs Oppenheimer, you are no longer a member of the Communist Party?</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>No.</dialogue>
    <character>GARRISON</character>
    <dialogue>When would you say that you ceased to be a member?</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>When I left Youngstown in 1936.</dialogue>
    <character>GARRISON</character>
    <dialogue>Will you describe your views on Communism as pro, anti, neutral.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>Very strongly against. I've had nothing to do with Communism since 1936. Since before I met Robert.</dialogue>
    <character>GARRISON</character>
    <dialogue>That's all.</dialogue>
    <character>HILL (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>The record demonstrates that Oppenheimer was not interrogated by impartial and disinterested counsel for the Gray Board...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Robb gets up to cross-examine...</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SENATE COMMITTEE HEARING ROOM -- DAY (B&amp;W)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Strauss watches Hill continue to answer questions...</scene_description>
    <character>HILL</character>
    <dialogue>...he was interrogated by a prosecutor who used all the tricks of a rather ingenious legal background to try to trick Oppenheimer into erroneous statements, and he did succeed in a few instances.</dialogue>
    <character>SENATOR SCOTT</character>
    <dialogue>You are charging now that the Gray Board permitted a prosecution of Dr Oppenheimer. Do you think, then, that the members of the Gray Board were unfair?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Hill takes a beat to consider this.</scene_description>
    <character>HILL</character>
    <dialogue>I can only say if I'd been on the Gray Board, I would've protested against the tactics of the man who served in fact as a prosecuting counsel- a man appointed not by the board but by Lewis Strauss.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Strauss strokes his chin, feigning indifference.</scene_description>
    <character>SENATOR MCGEE</character>
    <dialogue>Who was this?</dialogue>
    <character>CUT TO:</character>
    <dialogue>INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -- DAY (COLOUR)</dialogue>
    <character>HILL (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Roger Robb.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Robb tries to put himself in Kitty's eyeline...</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Mrs Oppenheimer.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She will not meet his gaze.</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Did you have a Communist Party membership card?</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>I, I'm not sure...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Kitty fiddles with her purse...</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Not sure?</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>Well...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She FREEZES. The Board members look at her. Garrison looks at me...</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Presumably the act of joining the Party was sending some money and receiving a card?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Kitty is focused on her purse...</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>No?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>And then Kitty LOOKS UP at Robb, pure STEEL-</scene_description>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>It was so long ago, Mr Robb, wasn't it?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Not really- KITTY</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Long enough to have forgotten.</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Did you turn in the card or KITTY (CONT'D) rip it up? The card whose existence I've</dialogue>
    <scene_description>forgotten?</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Your Communist Party KITTY (CONT'D) membership card- I haven't the slightest idea.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Can a distinction be made between Soviet Communism and Communism?</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>In the days when I was a member I thought they were definitely two things-</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Garrison and I hang on her every word...</scene_description>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>I thought the Communist Party of the United States was concerned with our domestic problems. I now no longer believe this. I believe the whole thing is linked together and spread all over the world. I've believed this since I left the Party sixteen years ago.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>But- KITTY</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Seventeen years ago. My mistake.</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>But you- KITTY</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Sorry, eighteen. Yes, eighteen years ago. Robb sighs patiently.</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Were you familiar with the fact that your husband was making contributions to the Spanish Civil War as late as 1942?</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>I knew that Robert gave money from time to time, yes.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Do you remember whether he gave money on a regular or periodic basis?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Kitty smiles sweetly-</scene_description>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>Do you mean regular, or do you mean periodic, Mr Robb?</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <parenthetical>(annoyed)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I mean... regular.</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>He did not.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Were you aware that this money was going into Communist Party channels?</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>Don't you mean 'through'?</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Pardon?</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>I think you mean 'through Communist Party channels'.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Yes. KITTY</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Yes.</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Would it be fair to say that this meant that by 1942 he had not stopped having anything to do with the Communist Party? I don't insist that you answer yes or no. You can answer any way you wish.</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>I know that. Thank you. But the question isn't properly phrased.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Don't you understand what I KITTY (CONT'D) am trying to get at? Yes, I do.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Why don't you answer it that KITTY (CONT'D) way? I don't like the phrase</dialogue>
    <scene_description>'having anything to do with the Communist Party' because Robert never had anything to do with the Communist Party as such. I know he gave money for Spanish refugees. I know he took an intellectual interest in Communist ideas-</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Are there two kinds of Communists? An intellectual Communist and a plain ordinary Commie?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Kitty laughs the laugh of the free.</scene_description>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>I couldn't answer that one.</dialogue>
    <character>EVANS</character>
    <parenthetical>(delighted)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I couldn't either.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Gray shoots a look at Evans. CHUCKLES around the room. Garrison looks at me. Nods. She did good.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I watch Teller testify.</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Is it your intention to suggest that Dr Oppenheimer is disloyal to the United States?</dialogue>
    <character>TELLER</character>
    <dialogue>I do not want to suggest anything of the kind. I have always assumed, and now assume, that he is loyal to the United States. I believe this, and I shall believe it until I see very conclusive proof to the opposite.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Now, a question which is a corollary of that... do you or do you not believe that Dr Oppenheimer is a security risk?</dialogue>
    <character>TELLER</character>
    <dialogue>In a great number of cases I have seen Dr Oppenheimer act in a way which for me was exceedingly hard to understand. I thoroughly disagreed with him in numerous issues, and his actions, frankly, appeared to me confused and complicated. To this extent, I feel that I would like to see the vital interests of this country in hands which I understand better and therefore trust more.</dialogue>
    <character>GRAY</character>
    <dialogue>Thank you, doctor.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Teller gets up from the table, as he walks past me he holds out his hand...</scene_description>
    <character>TELLER</character>
    <dialogue>I'm sorry.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I shake his hand.</scene_description>
    <character>KITTY (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>You shook his fucking hand?!</dialogue>
    <character>INT. DINING ROOM, OLDEN MANOR, PRINCETON -- NIGHT</character>
    <dialogue>KITTY</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I would've spat in his face!</scene_description>
    <character>GARRISON</character>
    <dialogue>I'm not sure the board would've appreciated that.</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>Not gentlemanly enough? You're all being too goddamn gentlemanly.</dialogue>
    <character>VOLPE</character>
    <dialogue>Gray must see what Robb is doing- why doesn't he shut him down?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Garrison shrugs. 8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <parenthetical>(to me)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>And you? Shaking Teller's hand- you need to stop playing the martyr.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. OLDEN MANOR, PRINCETON -- NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Garrison drives off. Volpe turns to me...</scene_description>
    <character>VOLPE</character>
    <dialogue>Robert, you can't win this thing. It's a kangaroo court with a predetermined outcome. Why put yourself through more of it?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I have my reasons.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Volpe shrugs. Embraces me. Gets in his car.</scene_description>
    <character>EINSTEIN (O.S.)</character>
    <dialogue>He has a point, you know.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I turn. Einstein steps into the light.</scene_description>
    <character>EINSTEIN</character>
    <dialogue>You're a man chasing a woman who doesn't love him any more- the United States Government.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I'm not sure you understand, Albert.</dialogue>
    <character>EINSTEIN</character>
    <dialogue>No? I left my country, never to return. The German calamity of years ago repeats itself- people acquiesce without resistance and align themselves with the forces of evil. You've served America well, and if this is the reward she has to offer perhaps you should turn your back on her.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Dammit, I happen to love this country.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Einstein considers this. Nods slowly.</scene_description>
    <character>EINSTEIN</character>
    <dialogue>Then tell them to go to hell.</dialogue>
    <character>CUT TO:</character>
    <dialogue>INT. SENATE OFFICE -- DAY (B&amp;W)</dialogue>
    <dialogue>Strauss BURSTS in, fuming...</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>This has become a trial about a trial!</dialogue>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>It's not a good thing that he's telling them that you initiated the hearings.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>He can't prove that I gave the file to Borden.</dialogue>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>He doesn't have to. We're not in court, there's no burden of proof...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Strauss realizes. Shakes his head at himself.</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>They're not convicting. Just denying.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The Senate Aide nods.</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Why would Hill come here to tear me down? What's his angle?</dialogue>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>Do people need a reason to do the right thing?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Strauss GLARES at the Senate Aide.</scene_description>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>I mean, as he sees it.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>I told you Oppenheimer poisoned the scientists against me! Right from that first meeting...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904 INSERT CUT: STRAUSS WATCHES OPPENHEIMER HAND EINSTEIN HIS HAT AS THEY SPEAK DOWN AT THE LAKE...</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>I don't know what Oppenheimer said to him that day, but Einstein wouldn't even meet my eye...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>INSERT CUT: AS STRAUSS APPROACHES, EINSTEIN WALKS PAST WITHOUT ACKNOWLEDGING HIM, CLEARLY UPSET...</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Oppenheimer knows how to manipulate his own. At Los Alamos he preyed on the naïveté of scientists who thought they'd get a say in how we used their work... but don't ever think he was that naïve himself...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -- DAY (COLOUR)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I am back at the witness table. Robb squares up.</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Doctor, in your work on the Hydrogen bomb at Los Alamos and in the years following, were you deterred by any moral qualms about the development of this weapon?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Of course.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>But you still got on with the work, didn't you?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Yes, because this was work of exploration. It was not the preparation of a weapon.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>You mean it was just an academic excursion?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>No. It's not an academic thing whether you can make a Hydrogen bomb. It's a matter of life and death.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Beginning in 1942 you were actively pushing the development of the H- bomb, weren't you?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>'Pushing' is not the right word. Supporting and working on it, yes.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>When did these moral qualms become so strong that you opposed the development of the Hydrogen bomb?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>When it was suggested that it be the policy of the United States to make these things at all costs, without regard to the balance between these weapons and atomic weapons as part of our arsenal.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <parenthetical>(theatrical confusion)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>What did moral qualms have to do with that?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <parenthetical>(struggling)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>What did moral qualms have to do with it?</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Yes.</dialogue>
    <character>INT. SENATE OFFICE -- DAY (B&amp;W)</character>
    <dialogue>Strauss is pacing now...</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Oppenheimer wanted to own the atomic bomb. He wanted to be the man who moved the earth.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>He talks about putting the nuclear genie back in the bottle- well, I'm here to tell you that I know J Robert Oppenheimer and if he could do it all over he'd do it all the same. He's never once said he regrets Hiroshima- he'd do it all over because it made him the most important man who ever lived...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -- DAY (COLOUR)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I struggle to find an answer for Robb...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>We freely used the atomic ROBB bomb. In fact, doctor, you assisted</dialogue>
    <scene_description>in selecting the target for the drop of the atomic bomb on Japan? Now I can hear the sound of FEET STAMPING...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Yes. ROBB</dialogue>
    <scene_description>You knew, did you not, that the dropping of that atomic bomb on the target you had selected would kill or injure thousands of civilians, is that correct?</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Not as many as turned out...</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>How many were killed or injured?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The feet are stamping FASTER and FASTER...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Seventy thousand.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Seventy thousand? At both OPPENHEIMER (CONT'D) Hiroshima and- One hundred and ten thousand</dialogue>
    <scene_description>at both.</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>On the day of each bombing.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Yes.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>And in the weeks and years after?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>It's been put at between fifty and one hundred thousand...</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Two hundred and twenty thousand dead? At least?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I nod.</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Did you have moral scruples about that?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Terrible ones.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>But you testified the other day that the bombing of Hiroshima was very successful?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Well, it was technically ROBB (CONT'D) successful. Oh, technically.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>It's also alleged to have helped end the war.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The stamping feet are LOUDER and FASTER...</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Would you have supported the dropping of a Hydrogen bomb on Hiroshima?</dialogue>
    <character>INT. SENATE OFFICE -- DAY (B&amp;W)</character>
    <dialogue>Strauss TURNS on the Senate Aide-</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>But he wanted all the glory and none of the responsibility. So he needed absolution. He needed to be a martyr. To suffer, and take the sins of the world on his shoulders. To say 'no, we cannot continue on this road' even as he knew we'd have to...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -- DAY (COLOUR)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>I search for an answer- the FEET STAMPING ever LOUDER-</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>It would make no sense at all.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Why?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>The target is too small.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Supposing there had been a target in Japan big enough for a thermonuclear weapon, would you have opposed dropping it?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>This was not a problem with ROBB (CONT'D) which I was confronted. I'm confronting you with it</dialogue>
    <scene_description>now, sir. Would you have opposed the dropping of a thermonuclear weapon on Japan because of moral scruples?</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I believe I would, sir.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Did you oppose the dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima because of moral scruples?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>We set forth our- ROBB</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I'm asking you about it, not 'we'.</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I set forth arguments against dropping it. But I did not endorse them.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SENATE OFFICE -- DAY (B&amp;W)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Strauss PACES the room, FURIOUS-</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>He knew he'd have to be seen to suffer for what he did. It was all part of his plan.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>He wanted the glorious insincere guilt of the self-important to wear like a fucking crown. And I gave it to him...</dialogue>
    <character>INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -- DAY (COLOUR)</character>
    <dialogue>Robb gets right in my face, incredulous-</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>You mean having worked night and day for three years to build the bomb, you then argued it shouldn't be used?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>No. I was asked by the Secretary of War what the views of scientists were- I gave the views against and the views for.</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>You supported the dropping of OPPENHEIMER (CONT'D) the atom bomb on Japan, What do you mean 'support'? didn't you?</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>You helped pick the target, didn't you?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I did my job- I was not in a policy- making position at Los Alamos- I would have done anything that I was asked to do-</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>You would have made the H-bomb too wouldn't you?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I couldn't.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The STAMPING breaks rhythm to become CACOPHONOUS...</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>I didn't ask you that, OPPENHEIMER (CONT'D) doctor! I would have worked on it,</dialogue>
    <scene_description>yes. But to run a labouratory is one thing, to advise a government is another.</scene_description>
    <character>THE LIGHT OF A THOUSAND SUNS POURS IN THE WINDOW...</character>
    <dialogue>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</dialogue>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>And the GAC report, which you co- authored, following the Russian atomic test said that a Super bomb should never be produced, did it not!</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>What we meant- what I meant- was that it would be a better world if there were no Hydrogen bombs in it.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>LIGHT STABS THROUGH CRACKS IN THE WALL...</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>Wouldn't the Soviets do anything to increase their military strength?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>If we did it, they'd have to do it. Our efforts would fuel their efforts- just as it had with the atomic bomb!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>PLASTER BREAKS AWAY AS LIGHT POURS INTO THE ROOM... I JAM my eyes closed, MORE AND MORE EXPOSED...</scene_description>
    <character>ROBB</character>
    <dialogue>'Just as with the atomic bomb.' Exactly. No moral scruples in 1945, plenty in 1949...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The sound STOPS. The light is gone.</scene_description>
    <character>GRAY</character>
    <parenthetical>(gentle)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Dr Oppenheimer, when did your strong moral convictions develop with respect to the Hydrogen bomb?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I open my eyes, exhausted...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>When it became clear to me that we would tend to use any weapon we had.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Silence.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SENATE OFFICE -- DAY (B&amp;W)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Strauss has stopped...</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>J. Robert Oppenheimer- the martyr. I gave him exactly what he wanted. To be remembered for Trinity, not Hiroshima, not Nagasaki. He should be thanking me.</dialogue>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>Well, he's not.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Strauss looks at the Senate Aide's neck, wondering if he could get one hand all the way around it.</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <parenthetical>(speaking softly)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Do you still have enough votes, or is the crowning moment of my career about to become the most public humiliation of my life?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The Senate Aide looks down at his buck slip, counts his tally.</scene_description>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>You'll scrape through.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Strauss looks at the Senate Aide. He smiles.</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Then gather the press.</dialogue>
    <character>CUT TO:</character>
    <dialogue>INT. ROOM 2022, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION -- DAY (COLOUR)</dialogue>
    <dialogue>I sit with Garrison and listen to Gray pass judgement...</dialogue>
    <character>GRAY</character>
    <dialogue>J. Robert Oppenheimer, this board, having heard testimony from you and many of your current and former colleagues, has come to the unanimous conclusion that you are a loyal citizen...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>GRAY</character>
    <dialogue>However, in the light of your continuing associations and disregard for the security apparatus of this country, together with your somewhat disturbing conduct in relation to the Hydrogen bomb and the regrettable lack of candor in certain of your responses to this board, we have voted two to one to deny the renewal of your security clearance.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I barely hear the rest...</scene_description>
    <character>GRAY</character>
    <dialogue>A full written opinion, with a dissent from Mr Evans, will be issued to the AEC in the coming days...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The board rises, aides start collecting files. Still dazed, I take the phone from Garrison-</scene_description>
    <character>GARRISON</character>
    <dialogue>It's Kitty.</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <parenthetical>(over phone)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Robert? Robert?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I take a breath. Not trusting my voice...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Don't... don't... don't... take in the sheets.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SENATE OFFICE -- DAY (B&amp;W)</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>We hear the press gathering behind the doors. Strauss checks his tie in the mirror. Smooths his hair. The Senate Aide enters, buck slip in hand.</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Is it official?</dialogue>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>I'm afraid there were a couple of unexpected holdouts.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Strauss freezes, absorbing the impact.</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>I'm denied?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The Senate Aide leaves him hanging for a beat.</scene_description>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>I'm afraid so, sir.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Strauss doesn't know what to do or where to look.</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Who were the holdouts?</dialogue>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>There were three, led by the junior senator from Massachusetts. Young guy, trying to make a name for himself. Didn't like what you did to Oppenheimer.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>What's his name?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The Senate Aide checks his tally...</scene_description>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>Uh... Kennedy. John F. Kennedy.</dialogue>
    <character>CUT TO:</character>
    <dialogue>EXT. OLDEN MANOR, BACK GATE OVERLOOKING THE INSTITUTE -- DAY</dialogue>
    <character>(COLOUR)</character>
    <dialogue>I approach Kitty, who's been crying.</dialogue>
    <character>KITTY</character>
    <dialogue>Did you think if you let them tar and feather you the world would forgive you? It won't.</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>We'll see.</dialogue>
    <character>CUT TO:</character>
    <dialogue>INT. SENATE OFFICE -- DAY (B&amp;W)</dialogue>
    <dialogue>Strauss listens to the hungry press pack beyond the door. He TURNS on the Senate Aide-</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904</scene_description>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>Goddamn it! You told me I'd be fine!</dialogue>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>Well, I didn't have all the facts, did I?</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>I did what was right for this country. They don't want me in the Cabinet Room? Maybe they should just invite Oppenheimer instead.</dialogue>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>Perhaps they will.</dialogue>
    <character>STRAUSS</character>
    <dialogue>He turned the scientists against me. One by one. Starting with Einstein. I told you about that? About Einstein, by the pond?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The Senate Aide picks up Strauss's hat and coat...</scene_description>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>You did. But, you know, sir, since nobody knows what they said to each other that day, is it possible they didn't talk about you at all? Is it possible they spoke about something...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Hands Strauss his hat and coat...</scene_description>
    <character>SENATE AIDE</character>
    <dialogue>...more important?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Strauss looks at the Senate Aide like he wants to kill him. The Senate Aide OPENS the office door and the FLASHBULBS EAT STRAUSS ALIVE as we-</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. LAKESIDE, INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY, PRINCETON -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>(COLOUR) I approach the figure by the lake. The figure's hat BLOWS off, releasing a mass of GREY CURLS. Strauss watches from the doorway as I scoop up Einstein's hat...</scene_description>
    <character>EINSTEIN</character>
    <dialogue>Robert. The man of the moment.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>I hand him his hat. He looks out at the lake.</scene_description>
    <character>EINSTEIN</character>
    <dialogue>You once had a reception for me at Berkeley. Gave me an award. You all believed I'd lost the ability to understand what I'd started. So that award wasn't for me... it was for all of you.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Einstein turns to me.</scene_description>
    <character>EINSTEIN (CONT'D)</character>
    <dialogue>Now it's your turn to deal with the consequences of your achievements. And one day... when they've punished you enough...</dialogue>
    <character>INT. CABINET ROOM, WHITE HOUSE -- DAY</character>
    <dialogue>Dozens of formally attired GUESTS. Kitty by my side. Many faces, now older, are there - Rabi, Lawrence, Frank, Jackie...</dialogue>
    <character>EINSTEIN (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>They'll serve salmon and potato salad, make speeches, give you a medal...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>LYNDON JOHNSON places a MEDAL around my neck. I SMILE and shake the President's hand. Kitty BEAMS as she, in turn, shakes Johnson's hand... Frank comes up to me, gives me a quick embrace-</scene_description>
    <character>FRANK</character>
    <dialogue>You're happy, I'm happy...</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Then I'm happy you're happy.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Lawrence claps me on the shoulder, smiling affectionately...</scene_description>
    <character>EINSTEIN (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Pat you on the back and tell you all is forgiven...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Teller approaches, I smile and take his offered hand...</scene_description>
    <character>EINSTEIN (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Just remember. It won't be for you...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>8FLiX.com FYC SCREENPLAY DATABASE 20230904 Teller turns to Kitty, offering the same smile and handshake...</scene_description>
    <character>EINSTEIN (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>...it'll be for them.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Kitty STARES Teller down, letting his hand hang in the air like a WILTING PLANT... and we-</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. LAKESIDE, INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY, PRINCETON -- DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Einstein TURNS to leave. Up the hill, Strauss approaches...</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>Albert? When I came to you with those calculations?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Einstein pauses. I watch raindrops make circles on the surface of the pond</scene_description>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER (CONT'D)</character>
    <dialogue>We were worried that we'd start a chain reaction that would destroy the entire world...</dialogue>
    <character>EINSTEIN</character>
    <dialogue>I remember it well. What of it?</dialogue>
    <character>OPPENHEIMER</character>
    <dialogue>I believe we did.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Einstein PALES. TURNS, passing Strauss without a word. The sound of FEET STAMPING... CLOSE IN ON: my staring eyes as I visualize THE EXPANDING NUCLEAR ARSENALS OF THE WORLD... THE FEET, FASTER AND FASTER- When I can take it no longer, I JAM my eyes CLOSED and we- CREDITS. END.</scene_description>
  </scene>
</script>
In 1926, 22-year-old doctoral student J. Robert Oppenheimer grapples with anxiety and homesickness while studying under experimental physicist Patrick Blackett at the Cavendish Laboratory in the University of Cambridge. Upset with Blackett's attitude, Oppenheimer leaves him a poisoned apple but later retrieves it. Visiting scientist Niels Bohr advises Oppenheimer to study theoretical physics at the University of Göttingen instead. Oppenheimer completes his PhD there and meets fellow scientist Isidor Isaac Rabi. They later meet theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg in Switzerland. Wanting to expand quantum physics research in the United States, Oppenheimer begins teaching at the University of California, Berkeley and the California Institute of Technology. He marries Katherine "Kitty" Puening, a biologist and ex-communist, and has an intermittent affair with Jean Tatlock, a troubled communist who later commits suicide. In December 1938, nuclear fission is discovered, which Oppenheimer realizes could be weaponized. In 1942, during World War II, U.S. Army Colonel Leslie Groves recruits Oppenheimer as director of the Manhattan Project to develop an atomic bomb. Oppenheimer, who is Jewish, is mainly concerned that the German nuclear research program, led by Heisenberg, might yield a fission bomb for the Nazis. He assembles a team consisting of Rabi, Hans Bethe and Edward Teller at the Los Alamos Laboratory, and also collaborating with scientists Enrico Fermi, Leo Szilard and David L. Hill at the University of Chicago. Teller's calculations reveal an atomic detonation could trigger a catastrophic chain reaction that ignites the atmosphere. After consulting with Albert Einstein, Oppenheimer concludes the chances are acceptably low. Teller attempts to leave the project after his proposal to construct a hydrogen bomb is rejected, but Oppenheimer convinces him to stay. After Germany's surrender in 1945, some Project scientists question the bomb's relevance; Oppenheimer believes it would end the ongoing Pacific War and save Allied lives. The Trinity test is successful, and President Harry S. Truman orders the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, resulting in Japan's surrender. Though publicly praised, Oppenheimer is haunted by the mass destruction and fatalities. After expressing his personal guilt to Truman, the president berates Oppenheimer and dismisses his urging to cease further atomic development. As an advisor to the United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), Oppenheimer's stance generates controversy, while Teller's hydrogen bomb receives renewed interest amidst the burgeoning Cold War. AEC Chairman Lewis Strauss resents Oppenheimer for publicly dismissing his concerns about exporting radioisotopes and for recommending negotiations with the Soviet Union after they successfully detonated their own bomb. He also believes that Oppenheimer denigrated him during a conversation Oppenheimer had with Einstein in 1947. In 1954, wanting to eliminate Oppenheimer's political influence, Strauss secretly orchestrates a private security hearing before a Personnel Security Board concerning Oppenheimer's Q clearance. However, it becomes clear that the hearing has a predetermined outcome. Oppenheimer's past communist ties are exploited, and Groves' and other associates' testimony is twisted against him. Teller testifies that he lacks confidence in Oppenheimer and recommends revocation. The board revokes Oppenheimer's clearance, damaging his public image and limiting his influence on nuclear policy. In 1959, during Strauss' Senate confirmation hearing for Secretary of Commerce, Hill testifies about Strauss' personal motives in engineering Oppenheimer's downfall, resulting his nomination being voted down. In 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson presents Oppenheimer with the Enrico Fermi Award as a gesture of political rehabilitation. A flashback reveals Oppenheimer and Einstein's 1947 conversation never mentioned Strauss. Oppenheimer instead expressed his belief that they had indeed started a chain reaction—a nuclear arms race—that would one day destroy the world.