With ‘Oppenheimer’ on the horizon, will the film explore his rival, Heisenberg?

Oppenheimer is one of the most anticipated films of 2023. It’s easy to understand why: the subject matter, the star-studded cast, and the abilities of a director like Christopher Nolan guarantees that it will be an ambitious historical drama for the ages. 

As the title suggests, Oppenheimer will focus on J. Robert Oppenheimer, the man who created the atomic bomb, but a recent IMDb discovery suggests that another physicist will be getting attention as well: Werner Heisenberg. Heisenberg tried to develop an atomic bomb during the same time period, effectively making him Oppenheimer’s rival. Let’s delve into the history between these two men, and whether their rivalry will be dramatized in the film.

Oppenheimer and Heisenberg are a fascinating case study of two men who were similar, despite working for opposing forces. Oppenheimer was a New York native who worked to develop the atom bomb for the U.S. during WWII, while Heisenberg was born in Wurzburg, and attempting to do the same for the Germans. The latter had won a Nobel Prize in 1932, and was even considered to be Adolf Hitler’s top physicist. 

Given the high profile that both men boasted, it’s fitting that they actually worked together earlier in their careers. In 1925, Oppenheimer took a position studying with Nobel Laureate Max Born at the Institute for Theoretical Physics in Göttingen, Germany. During this time, he collaborated with esteemed names like Otto Hahn, Paul Dirac, and yes, Heisenberg. Some of these men would later work together on the Manhattan Project, while Heisenberg would head up the German equivalent, known as the German Atomic Program.

While it’s confirmed that Heisenberg will be depicted in Oppenheimer, everything said and teased about the film suggests that it will focus on the titular physicist, rather than the rivalry he had with his German counterpart. Nolan has done the rivalry angle before, in his magician thriller The Prestige (2006), but he told Total Film that Oppenheimer will have a more intimate, subjective approach.

“We’re trying to tell the story of somebody’s life, and their journey through personal history and larger-scale history,” he explained. “And so the subjectivity of the story is everything to me. We want to view these events through Oppenheimer’s eyes.”

There are context clues that confirm Heisenberg’s limited presence within the film. The character and the actor who plays him is listed 33rd on IMDb, which is a site that generally ranks the cast in terms of their narrative significance. There’s also the matter of star power. 

Matthias Schweighöfer is a solid if relatively unknown actor, and the decision to cast him as Heisenberg is telling, given that the rest of the cast is populated by stars like Cillian Murphy, Matt Damon, and Robert Downey, Jr. If Heisenberg were a central part of Oppenheimer, we suspect a more famous name would have filled his shoes.

The decision to make Heisenberg a smaller part of Oppenheimer is not necessarily a bad one. Nolan wants to tell a story that spans decades and dozens of characters, and in doing so, certain historical figures are going to have to be minimized. Dramatically speaking, it makes sense that the film would prioritize people like Oppenheimer’s wife, Kitty (Emily Blunt), or his mistress, Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh). 

We can’t wait to see what Oppenheimer has in store for us when it hits theaters on July 21.