Miramax has just agreed to back a romantic period drama with one of the most unique titles Empire has heard in a while: Muchas Gracias, Bob Oppenheimer.
Bob Oppenheimer, of course, is Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atom bomb – and indeed, the new film is based on a true-life incident from 1966 when an American B-52 bomber crashed near Palomares in Spain, and accidentally released over 1,000 tons of nuclear material.
The movie version of this story will see an American serviceman sent to a small Spanish town as part of an appeasement mission (“Sorry for dumping so much radioactive crap on you!”) after a plane crash results in the detonation of four hydrogen bombs. As he tries to console and blend in with the locals, the serviceman finds himself embarking on a relationship.
Initally, you might – and indeed, Empire would agree – that a movie about dumped nuclear waste would not normally make for a stirring romantic drama. But there’s something very Capra-esque about the plot of this movie – and we’re also thinking movies like The Majestic and Doc Hollywood, in which strangers are affected, for good, by the soul of a small town. This could play along similar lines – and then, of course, there’s bound to be a hard-hitting political subtext, too.
With a title like that, it’s probably not going to bust any blocks, but if done right, this could well be a contender for awards when the time comes.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. The movie, which is produced by Mark Gordon, won’t even start shooting for a while. Writer Daniel Taplitz, who was last week announced as the writer of new comedy, 92 Minutes, has come on board to rewrite the first draft, by Bob Dolan Smith. So we’ve got a while yet...