Oppenheimer (I) (2023)

Matt Damon: Leslie Groves

Photos 

1 more photos

Quotes 

• Leslie Groves : Are you saying that there's a chance that when we push that button... we destroy the world?

  J. Robert Oppenheimer : The chances are near zero...

  Leslie Groves : Near zero?

  J. Robert Oppenheimer : What do you want from theory alone?

  Leslie Groves : Zero would be nice!

• Leslie Groves : A Nobel Prize for making a bomb?

  J. Robert Oppenheimer : Alfred Nobel invented dynamite.

• Leslie Groves : What do we call the test?

  J. Robert Oppenheimer : Batter my heart, three-person'd God.

  Leslie Groves : What?

  J. Robert Oppenheimer : Trinity.

• Edward Condon : Why would we move out to the middle of the desert for two to three years?

  Leslie Groves : Why? How about because this is the most important fucking thing to ever happen in the history of the world!

• Leslie Groves : And Robert? Try not to blow up the world.

• Roger Robb : Under the current AEC guidelines, would you clear Dr. Oppenheimer today?

  Leslie Groves : Under my interpretation of the Atomic Energy Act, which did not exist when I hired Dr. Oppenheimer in 1942, I would not clear him today if I were on the Commission.

  Roger Robb : Good. Thank you, General. That is all.

  Leslie Groves : But I don't think I'd clear any of those guys.

• Leslie Groves : Build him a town, fast.

  [to Oppenheimer] 

  Leslie Groves : Let's go recruit some scientists.

• J. Robert Oppenheimer : Is there any chance of getting Bohr out of Denmark?

  Leslie Groves : Yeah, no dice. I checked with the British. Until we get Allied boots back onto the continent, there's just no way. Is he that important?

  J. Robert Oppenheimer : How many people do you know proved Einstein wrong?

• Ernest Lawrence : [Greeting General Groves]  Leslie.

  Leslie Groves : Dr. Lawrence, I'd like to remind you what we talked about in Berkeley.

  Ernest Lawrence : Compartmentalization, I understand completely

  Ernest Lawrence : [Addressing a group of physicists and scientists at Los Alamos]  I am here to update you on our progress and solicit your input. To do so, I am going to have to share a few things that General Groves told me not to.

  Ernest Lawrence : [to General Groves]  Sorry, General, I said I understood, not that I agreed.

• Leslie Groves : Robert, we've given them an ace. It's for them to play the hand.

• J. Robert Oppenheimer : You're talking about turning theory into a practical weapon system faster than the Nazis.

  Leslie Groves : Who have a twelve month head start.

  J. Robert Oppenheimer : Eighteen.

  Leslie Groves : How could you possibly know that?

  J. Robert Oppenheimer : Our fast-neutron research took six months, the man they've undoubtedly put in charge will have made that leap instantly.

  Leslie Groves : Who do you think they put in charge?

  J. Robert Oppenheimer : Werner Heisenberg. He has the most intuitive understanding of atomic structure I have ever seen.

  Leslie Groves : You know his work?

  J. Robert Oppenheimer : I know him. Just like I know Walther Bothe, von Weizsäcker, Diebner, in a straight race the Germans win. We've got one hope.

  Leslie Groves : Which is?

  J. Robert Oppenheimer : Antisemitism.

  Leslie Groves : What?

  J. Robert Oppenheimer : Hitler called quantum physics 'Jewish science', said it right to Einstein's face. Our one hope is that Hitler is so, so blinded by hate that he's denied Heisenberg proper resources, because it will take vast resources. Our nation's best scientists working together, right now they're scattered.

  Leslie Groves : Which gives us compartmentalization.

  J. Robert Oppenheimer : 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.

  Leslie Groves : The Russians don't.

  J. Robert Oppenheimer : Remind me, who are we at war with?

  Leslie Groves : Somebody with your past doesn't want to be seen downplaying the importance of security from our communist allies.

  J. Robert Oppenheimer : Point taken but, no.

  Leslie Groves : You don't get to say no to me.

  J. Robert Oppenheimer : My job is to say no to you when you're wrong.

  Leslie Groves : So you have the job now?

  J. Robert Oppenheimer : Hmm, I'm considering it.

  Leslie Groves : [pauses]  I'm starting to see where you got your reputation. My favourite response; 'Oppenheimer couldn't run a hamburger stand'.

  J. Robert Oppenheimer : [Smiles]  I couldn't. But I can run the Manhattan Project.