Fans notice historical inaccuracy with American flags in Oppenheimer
- Movie
Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer has too many stars — and we're not talking about all the cameos.
The critically-acclaimed biopic has been in theaters for less than a week, and eagle-eyed fans are already pointing out a minuscule historical inaccuracy. Funnily enough, the error has nothing to do with the nuclear physics explored by Cillian Murphy's J. Robert Oppenheimer and instead centers around some extras waving the American flag.
In a scene set in 1945, Oppenheimer stands among a crowd of Los Alamos, N.M. community members, many of whom are holding American flags. But while each of their flags have the present-day 50 stars, the United States flag at the time bore only 48 stars to represent 48 states as Hawaii and Alaska were both admitted into the union over a decade later, in 1959.
The mistake is not present throughout the movie, as other scenes contain flags with the period-accurate 48 stars.
Representatives for Universal Pictures did not immediately respond to EW's request for comment.
More than a few eagle-eyed history buffs noticed the error and called attention to it on social media.
"It was good and all," one Twitter user wrote of the film last Friday. "But I'll be that guy and complain they used 50-star flags in a scene set in 1945."
"Totally ruined the film, for me at least," another user replied. Others chimed in to say that the minor error did not detract from the film in the slightest, which has enjoyed critical acclaim and commercial success since debuting last week.
One user even tried to justify the error, with a reminder that the film constantly alternates perspectives.
The biopic follows the life and work of the titular theoretical physicist who worked as a director on the Manhattan Project's efforts to build an atomic bomb in New Mexico during World War II. The film is also one half of the Barbieheimer craze, born from the idea of combining the unlikely pairing of Barbie and Oppenheimer for a perfect double feature as the movies premiered on the same day. While the funnier and much pinker counterpart starring Margot Robbie celebrated a ground-breaking $155 million debut, Oppenheimer defied box office projections, grossing a massive $80.5 million over the weekend.
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Related content:
Cillian Murphy transforms into J. Robert Oppenheimer as director Christopher Nolan chronicles the story behind the Manhattan Project and the father of the atomic bomb.
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