It was a secret undertaking carried out in the middle of the desert and no one involved was quite sure what the outcome would be. The Manhattan Project was America’s herculean effort to end World War II by creating an atomic bomb. The US’ top scientists and their families found themselves in Los Alamos, New Mexico, in the mid-1940s charged with a task that had never been done before.
That is the subject of WGN America’s drama series Manhattan. This is not the usual view of the famous physicists we know from American History 101. This is a fictionalised tale of the families who lived there, on the outskirts of civilisation, and the men who agonised over the challenge.
The story focuses on a small group of these scruffy geniuses. There was such a group, says the show’s creator, Sam Shaw, but the characters themselves are fictional. “This was a $2bn black ops that was going on at this point,” says Thomas Schlamme, one of the executive producers. “I mean, the US Congress did not know about it. The vice president did not know about it. And yet it cost $2bn in 1944. So you can imagine what that was and what an enormous scientific achievement that was that they were able to do that.”
Rachel Brosnahan, who plays one of the men’s wives, says her role is not like any she’s ever done. “One of the things I love about this show is it doesn’t just explore the scientists. It also explores their families, and we were privileged enough to have some women come visit us on set who grew up in Los Alamos. One of them very vividly recalled when her mother found out exactly what they had done and what they had been doing there — because she had had no idea for all the time they had been there.
And she recalls her being violently, physically ill and that nothing was ever the same after that because, how could it be?”
Not only was the site remote, living conditions for the families were extreme because the project fell under the military’s control. Olivia Williams, who plays Liza Winter, wife of the project leader, says, “These people were brought to Los Alamos and it was a military base, you were subject to military law and therefore subject to irrational orders from above. And, you know, as an actor who very often doesn’t know what I’m going to be expected to do tomorrow and then finding out late at night and taken to a strange location in the dark, and then told to perform strange acts in front of the camera, it’s nice to be able to express what it’s really like being an actor through drama.”
John Benjamin Hickey stars as Frank Winter, leader of the group. “My father, my uncle were both in World War II,” he says.
“Mine and Danny (Stern’s) characters are guys who were part of the war that was supposed to have ended all wars. And then they find themselves in their ’50s and ’60s back at it. We live in such a cynical and bitter time now politically, to think how bitter and cynical and essentially just physically exhausted these guys must have been. And still the idea that the Germans and Hitler might beat us, and just imagine what that must be like to get up every morning and know how united your country is in one common pursuit,” he says.
“This brings up the moral quandary of it all: It’s horrible because it’s war, but it’s such a great cause to protect the American way of life. So I love the idea of going back there and visiting that.”
The shooting takes place in a remote area of New Mexico in an abandoned Army hospital that had to be cleared of asbestos before filming could begin. Hickey says the bleak surroundings and quixotic weather helped immerse the actors in their roles.
“This is verisimilitude that only God could make,” he says. “We shoot outside. I mean, 60% of each episode is exterior ... We shoot on a ranch that’s probably 20,000 acres. So you can see as far as the eye can see. It looks like 1942 or earlier. And the amount of weather — that affects your performance, that dominates your performance. It’s about surviving the wind as much as it is playing an objective. And it’s so liberating for an actor to not be confined by lights and space, a room, to feel that God is the ultimate director.”
Daniel Stern, who plays physicist Glen Babbit, believes the lessons of the period can be applied today. “I think it’s an interesting way to do a commentary on our society now. Rather than directly talking about secrets or our NSA spying or our decisions about how we go to war or what wars we fight or how we fight them or drone activity — all of the things happening now. It’s an interesting way, I think, to bring up those topics but with a little distance, with a little fiction between it. And it gives a chance to have that discussion. So there’s a lot of issues that we maybe can’t talk about or aren’t as dramatic in the present that I think can lead to interesting storytelling and mirror what our situation is now.” — MCT
Gisele turns 34, feels blessed
Supermodel Gisele Bündchen has turned 34 and says that everyone’s wishes makes her feel “blessed” and “grateful”.
Her birthday was Sunday and post the celebrations she posted pictures on the photo sharing site Instagram, but didn’t disclosed the location. In the pictures, she could be seen blowing out candles on a cake surrounded by yellow tropical flowers and in the background palm trees and the ocean are visible, reports people.com. “Thank you to everyone for the love and birthday wishes. I feel so blessed. #grateful,” was the caption of the picture. Bündchen started here vacation by posting a picture of her doing a handstand on the beach. The star was on the Forbes’ 2014 Celebrity 100 list, with the magazine describing her last 12 months as the best in her two-decade career. — IANS
DiCaprio holidaying in Miami
Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio was spotted vacationing in Miami and seems to be enjoying his break to the fullest. The 39-year-old star was spotted on a beach in Miami looking rather scruffy as he emerged from the ocean rocking a grizzly beard, covering up his less-than-toned body with a white towel, reports eonline.com
Just a couple of weeks ago, the actor was snapped playing volleyball with his 21-year-old girlfriend Toni Garnn, where it was first noticed that he has sort of starting to morph into actor Jack Nicholson. In the shot, DiCaprio had his hair in the same style as Nicholson, rocked a similar pair of sunglasses that the 77-year-old thespian frequently wears and looked like his younger twin when he cracked a smile. — IANS
