“Oppenheimer” didn’t beat “Barbie” at the box office this weekend, but it was a pretty big hit . . . with a three-day take of $80.5 million. And that’s despite a GLARING historical inaccuracy.
There’s a scene in the movie where several people in a crowd are waving American flags. It takes place in 1945, and the flags have 50 stars on them.
If you know your history and/or civics, then you know that the American flag didn’t have 50 stars until 1960, after Alaska and Hawaii became states. In 1945, it only had 48 stars.
Here’s another interesting fact about “Oppenheimer”: They made the atomic bomb explosion WITHOUT CGI. (???)
It’s not clear exactly how they did it, but the cinematographer says, quote, “We created science experiments. We built aquariums with power in it. We dropped silver particles in it.
“We had molded metallic balloons which were lit up from the inside. We had things slamming and smashing into one another such as ping-pong balls, or just had objects spinning.
“We had long shutter speeds, short shutter speeds, wide negative color, negative overexposure, underexposure. It was like a giant playground for all of us.”
