Fat Man and Little Boy (released in the United Kingdom as Shadow Makers) is a 1989 American epic historical war drama film directed by Roland Joffé, who co-wrote the script with Bruce Robinson. The story follows the Manhattan Project, the secret Allied endeavor to develop the first nuclear weapons during World War II. The film is named after " Little Boy " and " Fat Man ", the two bombs dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively. The film starred Paul Newman as Leslie Groves and Dwight Schultz as J. Robert Oppenheimer, with supporting roles filled by Bonnie Bedelia, John Cusack, Laura Dern, John C. McGinley and Natasha Richardson.