America, technical problems and delays cause tensions and strife. To avoid a single point of failure plan, two separate bomb designs are implemented: a large, heavy plutonium bomb imploded using shaped charges ("Fat Man"), and an alternative design for a thin, less heavy uranium bomb triggered in a shotgun design ("Little Boy"). The bomb development culminates in a detonation in south-central New Mexico at the Trinity Site in the Alamogordo Desert (05:29:45 on July 16, 1945), where everyone watched in awe at the spectacle of the first mushroom cloud with roaring winds, even miles away. In the end, both bombs, Fat Man and Little Boy, were successful, ushering in the Atomic Age. Cast Paul Newman as General Leslie Groves Dwight Schultz as J. Robert Oppenheimer Bonnie Bedelia as Kitty Oppenheimer John Cusack as Michael Merriman Laura Dern as Kathleen Robinson Ron Frazier as Peer de Silva Fred Thompson as Maj. Gen. Melrose Hayden Barry John C. McGinley as Capt. Richard Schoenfield, MD Natasha Richardson as Jean Tatlock Ron Vawter as Jamie Latrobe Michael Brockman as William Sterling Parsons Del Close as Dr. Kenneth Whiteside John Considine as Robert Tuckson Allan Corduner as Franz Goethe Todd Field as Robert R. Wilson Ed Lauter as Whitney Ashbridge Franco Cutietta as Enrico Fermi Joe D'Angerio as Seth Neddermeyer Jon DeVries as Johnny Mount Gerald Hiken as Leo Szilard Barry Yourgrau as Edward Teller James Eckhouse as Robert Harper Mary Pat Gleason as Dora Welsh Clark Gregg as Douglas Panton Péter Halász as George Kistiakowsky Robert Peter Gale as Dr. Louis Hempelemann Basis Most of the characters were real people and most of the events real happenings, with some theatrical license used in the film. The character of Michael Merriman (John Cusack) is a fictional composite of several people and is put into the film to provide a moral compass as the "common man". Part of the character is loosely based on the scientist Louis Slotin. Contrary to Merriman's death in the movie, Slotin's accident and death occurred after the dropping of the two bombs on Japan, and his early death was feared by some as karma after the event; see their respective articles. A very similar mishap happened less than two weeks after the Nagasaki bomb, claiming the life of Harry Daghlian. Both incidents occurred with the same plutonium core, which became known as the demon core. Even before Oppenheimer was chosen to