Zack Sharf Digital News Director “Good Time” and “Uncut Gems” director Benny Safdie expands his acting career with a prominent supporting role in Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer.” He plays Edward Teller, the real-life theoretical physicist known as “the father of the hydrogen bomb.” Teller joined Oppenheimer to work on the atomic bomb in Los Alamos, N.M., focusing on nuclear implosion and uranium hydride research.
He was born in Budapest, Austria-Hungary, and had a thick accent, which presented Safdie with one of his biggest acting challenges. “The accent was something I was so nervous about,” Safdie recently told Vulture. “I remember Chris asking me, ‘How’s the accent coming?’ And I’m just like, ‘Oh my God, how am I going to accomplish this?’ I didn’t know if he was going to want me to do it.
But he sent me all of these interviews and we talked about how Teller speaks and who he is. It was a long process of working together to really nail it down.” “I remember finally I was like, ‘You know what?
I could sound crazy, but I don’t care. This is what Teller sounds like and I’m just going to do it,'” Safdie added. “I sent a voice-memo where I just narrated what my breakfast was and how Teller really liked pineapple.” Because “Oppenheimer” spans several years, Safdie also had to find a way to change his accent as Teller grew older.
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