Q&A: Robert Downey Jr. on how ‘Oppenheimer’ represents the Manhattan Project with nuance

By KRYSTA FAURIA
Associated Press

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) — Robert Downey Jr. says he came away from Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” thinking about how “context is so critical” to understand significant moments in history. The film tells the story of the controversial theoretical physicist, J. Robert Oppenheimer, who oversaw the development of the first atomic bomb during World War II. Downey plays former chair of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission Lewis Strauss, a key figure in revoking Oppenheimer’s security clearance. Downey told the AP he believes “Men start wars and the entire planet should be a matriarchy.”