Doesn't That Pond Look Great?

I haven't seen the Oppenheimer movie yet, and I probably won't until it's available to stream or on DVD. It's three hours long and I would like to see it from the comfort of my own chair at home and pause it as necessary. There is also a chance I might stand up and yell, "Doesn't that pond look great?" every time it appears on screen, and that could be a little embarrassing if I did it in a theater. 

I first heard about the movie last February when Justin said they were filming a movie at his workplace and Matt Damon was there. When I asked what the movie was, all he knew was that it was about "some famous guy". After a little bit of searching, I found that Christopher Nolan and crew were filming Oppenheimer and Matt Damon was playing Lt. Gen. Leslie Groves.

Justin works on the grounds crew at the Institute for Advanced Study. As explained by Lee Sandberg, Communications and Public Relations Manager at IAS, "It is not a university nor a think tank. IAS is a global center for intellectual inquiry dedicated to providing the world's foremost scholars with time, space, and collaborators to drive fundamental discovery. Visiting IAS scholars and scientists range from the post-graduate to faculty level, and with funding from IAS and outside grants, are able to pursue work driven by their own curiosity." 

Several hundred "members" (that's what the really smart scholars are called) from around the world live, work, and study at IAS. There are also several hundred staff members (administration, grounds crew, plumbers, painters, dining hall staff, etc.) that take care of the 800-acre campus, buildings, and infrastructure. IAS figures in the Oppenheimer movie because in addition to being the "father of the atomic bomb", J. Robert Oppenheimer was the longest-serving director of IAS, from 1947-1966. 

As part of the grounds crew, Justin was charged with taking care of the pond before the film crew arrived. There are cat tails, reeds, and weeds growing in and around the pond, and the film crew wanted them to look a certain way. Justin had to don his waders and head into the pond to trim the cat tails and reeds and scoop out all the floating detritus that the wind blows to one side.

In the photo above where Einstein (Tom Conti) drops his hat, you can see the area of the pond that they weren't originally happy with. After Justin's initial trimming, he had to put his waders back on for a second day to trim some more to get it to the director's satisfaction. There was some concern about the water in the pond being overly muddy since Justin had been wading in it for two days, but it was finally deemed acceptable. 

The pond does seem to loom large in this movie. I thought I might have trouble finding movie scenes that included the pond, but when I started looking, there were loads of them. Oppenheimer and Einstein speak at the pond, and there is a scene where Oppenheimer and Lewis Strauss (chair of the Atomic Energy Commission, played by Robert Downey, Jr.) chat at the same pond. 

Cillian Murphy is J. Robert Oppenheimer and Robert Downey Jr is Lewis Strauss,
talking at the Institute for Advanced Study. Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures.

So if you happen to see the Oppenheimer movie, keep an eye out for the pond. I don't think that Justin's pond-grooming skills are acknowledged in the credits, but feel free to jump up and shout, "Doesn't that pond look great?" :-)