The Cigarette Detail You Probably Missed

Smoking was fashionable in the 1940s, so much so that it shows up everywhere. Even Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" novels (which take place 20,000 years in the future and the first of which was written in the 40s) are rife with the imbibition of the fumes from burning tobacco. When Hari Seldon appears in the Vault, some of the first words he says are, "if you care to smoke, I wouldn't mind."

While smoking was par for the course during most of Oppenheimer's life, though, the man himself was particularly devoted to the habit. Delouche explains that the titular character was a chain smoker known for smoking 150 cigarettes every day. "When he didn't smoke cigarettes," the prop master adds, "he would take a break by smoking his pipe." Nolan and company knew, along with Oppie's iconic porkpie hat and pipe, they needed to complete the symbolic imagery by keeping a cigarette between his lips in every possible scene. The result is an instantly recognizable image of a man known for his interactions with fire, whether it's in the form of a cigarette, a pipe, or a world-shaking explosive.