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Colour photograph of a man with short dark hair in a brown tweed jacket on a red carpet, photographers behind him
Cillian Murphy, who plays him, Berlin, February 2024. Harald Krichel · CC BY-SA 4.0
A black-and-white portrait of J. Robert Oppenheimer in a jacket and tie, close-cropped hair
J. Robert Oppenheimer, 1944, the year after he moved to Los Alamos. Unknown author (US government; National Archives) · Public domain

1943 · Los Alamos2023 · the film

Oppenheimer

Half and half. Nolan cuts between the two for three hours.

Sources

Los Alamos, New Mexico

The real town.

Nolan chose to shoot many scenes in Los Alamos itself, where the story happened. The town scenes were filmed in spring 2022. The lodge and the house in the film are the real ones.

A long log building glimpsed between trees in red and orange autumn leaf
Fuller Lodge in autumn, Los Alamos, October 2013. Mike McBey · CC BY 2.0

2132 Central Avenue, Los Alamos, across the road from Ashley Pond

Fuller Lodge

Built in 1928 for the Los Alamos Ranch School, the lodge held the school’s dining hall and kitchen, and rooms for guests, staff and the nurse. John Gaw Meem designed it, and it was built from more than 700 ponderosa pines cut in the nearby forest.

During the Manhattan Project the big Pajarito Room was a cafeteria, and the other rooms housed bachelor staff and distinguished visitors. Scenes for the film were shot both inside and outside the lodge.

Owned by Los Alamos County, free and open to the public. It is still the town’s community centre, so a meeting or a wedding may have the main room.

Sources
A low stone and timber house under tall pine trees
The Oppenheimer House on Bathtub Row, Los Alamos, 2022. National Park Service / Feller · Public domain

1967 Peach Street, at the corner of Bathtub Row

The Oppenheimer House, Bathtub Row

It was built in 1929 for the Ranch School. May Connell, sister of the school’s director, refused to live in a log cabin, so the school hired a local stonemason. Robert and Kitty Oppenheimer lived here with their children Peter and Toni from 1943 to 1945.

The Ranch School cottages along this road had the only bathtubs in town, which is how it became Bathtub Row. His dinner parties were among the most coveted invitations in wartime Los Alamos. He mixed the martinis himself.

Scenes were filmed in the house, which had been restored. NBC Universal later gave the film’s set furniture to the house.

Owned by the Los Alamos Historical Society and not open inside yet, but you are welcome to look at it from outside.

Sources
Street signs for Bathtub Row and Peach Street in front of a low house among pines
The corner of Bathtub Row and Peach Street, Los Alamos, 2022. National Park Service · Public domain
A low stone and log building behind a lawn, with a wooden sign by the path
The Los Alamos History Museum on Bathtub Row, September 2008. Marcin Wichary · CC BY 2.0

1050 Bathtub Row, Los Alamos

Los Alamos History Museum

The museum is preparing the Oppenheimer House to join its campus, and asks visitors to help decide how the home should look when it opens. Its History of the Secret City guided tours include an Ancestral Pueblo site and the homestead-era Romero Cabin. They cost $25 for adults, and under-18s go free with a ticketed adult.

Open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm and Saturday 10am to 4pm; closed on Sundays.

Sources
A red-brick museum entrance with a long red sign reading Bradbury Science Museum
The entrance of the Bradbury Science Museum on Central Avenue, Los Alamos, July 2007. Blueag9 · CC BY-SA 3.0

Central Avenue, downtown Los Alamos

Bradbury Science Museum

The Laboratory’s own museum has more than 60 interactive exhibits in three galleries: History, Defense and Research. Entry is free and photographs are allowed. Elsewhere on Laboratory property they are not, and most Laboratory buildings are closed to the public.

Free. Open Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 5pm and Sunday 1pm to 5pm; closed on Mondays.

Sources
Los Alamos History Museum

History of the Secret City guided tours

1050 Bathtub Row, Los Alamos · $25 adults · under-18s free with a ticketed adult

Guided tours from the museum on Bathtub Row, taking in an Ancestral Pueblo site and the homestead-era Romero Cabin. Tickets include museum entry.

See tour times
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Beyond the mesa · 0 of 6

Drop a marble.

In the film, Oppenheimer counts the slow build-up of fissionable material by dropping marbles into glass bowls. A historian calls the scene invented, but true to the pressure. Here each marble is a place where the film was shot. The film is in colour when it is Oppenheimer’s view and black and white when it looks at him from outside, so the places fall into two bowls.

Sources

ColourHis view · 0 of 4

Black and whiteThe view from outside · 0 of 2

Pick a bowl. Four places fall in colour and two in black and white.

Two empty bowls. 6 marbles to drop.

La Fonda

La Fonda on the Plaza

100 East San Francisco Street, Santa Fe

The only hotel on Santa Fe’s historic Plaza, a member of Historic Hotels of America, a short walk from the Memorial Bataan Building.

Check rooms
Layered red and cream sandstone cliffs above green scrub, under white clouds
The red rock cliffs of Ghost Ranch, near Abiquiu, August 2011. Artotem · CC BY 2.0

Ghost Ranch · 54 miles from the real thing

The second town.

The production built a 1940s Los Alamos on a plateau at Ghost Ranch. It took three months to build and was used for six shooting days. Filming began at Ghost Ranch on 28 February 2022 and the whole shoot took 57 days.

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An empty mesa at Ghost Ranch.

The ranch covers 21,000 acres and has belonged to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) since 1955. The first film shot there was The Light That Failed, in 1939.

An education and retreat centre about 65 miles north-west of Santa Fe. Book stays and activities through Ghost Ranch, and ask the welcome centre whether the set can be seen.

Sources
Ghost Ranch

Ghost Ranch

US 84 near Abiquiu, New Mexico

Sleep where the film built its Los Alamos: historic adobes, lodge rooms, bunkhouses and campsites on 21,000 acres. Guest-quarter stays include three meals a day.

Check stays
A dark stone obelisk with a black plaque, standing in flat desert under a blue sky
The lava-rock obelisk at Ground Zero, Trinity Site, October 2010. Samat Jain · Public domain

Trinity Site · White Sands Missile Range

16 July 1945

The first nuclear test took place here, near Alamogordo, on 16 July 1945. The film shows little of what the bombs did to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The film did not shoot here. Its Trinity scenes were made on private land near Belen, where Murphy climbed a 100-foot steel tower built as a replica.

Open one day a yearStallion Gate

Inside an active missile range and open only on its annual open house: next on Saturday 17 October 2026. Stallion Gate is open 8am to 2pm and the site closes at 3.30pm. No fee.

Visitors see the obelisk at Ground Zero and the McDonald ranch house, where the plutonium core was assembled. Photographs are allowed at both. Everyone 18 and over needs a government photo ID, and drivers need proof of insurance and the vehicle registration or rental agreement.

Sources

Cast and record

The people.

  • Colour photograph of a man with short dark hair in a brown tweed jacket on a red carpet, photographers behind him
    Cillian Murphy, who plays Oppenheimer, at the Berlin film festival on 15 February 2024, during the film’s awards season. Harald Krichel · CC BY-SA 4.0

    Cillian MurphyJ. Robert Oppenheimer

  • Emily Blunt in a black sequinned top and layered silver necklaces, smiling
    Emily Blunt at the WWD Style Awards, January 2026. Kevin Paul · CC BY 4.0

    Emily BluntKitty Oppenheimer

  • Robert Downey Jr. in tinted rimless glasses and a grey jacket, smiling
    Robert Downey Jr. at a Lincoln Center Theater gala, New York, May 2026. Philip Romano · CC BY-SA 4.0

    Robert Downey Jr.Lewis Strauss

  • Colour photograph of a grey-haired man in a dark jacket and scarf, clapping
    Christopher Nolan at the BFI in London on 15 February 2024, during the film’s awards season. Raph_PH · CC BY 2.0

    Christopher NolanWriter and director

  • Kai Bird with grey hair and beard, resting his chin on his hand against a dark background
    Kai Bird, October 2013. Stephen Frietch · CC0

    Kai BirdCo-author, American Prometheus

A black-and-white badge photograph of Oppenheimer facing the camera, a number card below his face
Oppenheimer’s Los Alamos identity-badge photograph, 1940s. Los Alamos National Laboratory · Public domain
Oppenheimer seated in a suit and tie, holding a cigarette, in a black-and-white photograph
J. Robert Oppenheimer at the Guest Lodge, Oak Ridge, February 1946. Ed Westcott, US government photographer · Public domain

The film is based on American Prometheus, the 2005 biography by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. It opened in July 2023 and won seven Oscars.

Oppenheimer was born in New York on 22 April 1904, took his doctorate at Göttingen under Max Born in 1927 and married Kitty in 1940. The government revoked his security clearance after a hearing in 1954, gave him the Fermi Award in 1963, and vacated the 1954 decision in 2022.

Sources

  • Cast and roles: Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer), Emily Blunt (Kitty Oppenheimer), Robert Downey Jr. (Lewis Strauss); based on American Prometheus (2005) by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin; released 21 July 2023; seven Academy Awards.

    Wikipedia: Oppenheimer (film)

  • Born 22 April 1904 in New York; doctorate at Göttingen under Max Born, March 1927; married Kitty in 1940; clearance revoked after the 1954 hearing; Fermi Award 1963; the 1954 decision vacated in 2022.

    Wikipedia: J. Robert Oppenheimer

Where it is now

Every place.

Where it is now

12 places you can visit, from Los Alamos to Princeton. The Oppenheimer House is seen from outside for now, the Bataan Building and the Old Post Office are working buildings, and Trinity Site opens on one day a year.

Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.

  • General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Owned by Los Alamos County, free and open to the public. It is still the town’s community centre, so a meeting or a wedding may have the main room.

  • General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Owned by the Los Alamos Historical Society and not open inside yet, but you are welcome to look at it from outside.

  • General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm and Saturday 10am to 4pm; closed on Sundays.

  • General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Free. Open Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 5pm and Sunday 1pm to 5pm; closed on Mondays.

  1. A long log building glimpsed between trees in red and orange autumn leaf
    Fuller Lodge in autumn, Los Alamos, October 2013. Mike McBey · CC BY 2.0

    2132 Central Avenue, Los Alamos, across the road from Ashley Pond

    Fuller Lodge

    Built in 1928 for the Los Alamos Ranch School, the lodge held the school’s dining hall and kitchen, and rooms for guests, staff and the nurse.

    Owned by Los Alamos County, free and open to the public. It is still the town’s community centre, so a meeting or a wedding may have the main room.

    Sources
  2. A low stone and timber house under tall pine trees
    The Oppenheimer House on Bathtub Row, Los Alamos, 2022. National Park Service / Feller · Public domain

    1967 Peach Street, at the corner of Bathtub Row

    The Oppenheimer House, Bathtub Row

    It was built in 1929 for the Ranch School. May Connell, sister of the school’s director, refused to live in a log cabin, so the school hired a local stonemason.

    Owned by the Los Alamos Historical Society and not open inside yet, but you are welcome to look at it from outside.

    Sources
  3. A low stone and log building behind a lawn, with a wooden sign by the path
    The Los Alamos History Museum on Bathtub Row, September 2008. Marcin Wichary · CC BY 2.0

    1050 Bathtub Row, Los Alamos

    Los Alamos History Museum

    The museum is preparing the Oppenheimer House to join its campus, and asks visitors to help decide how the home should look when it opens.

    Open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm and Saturday 10am to 4pm; closed on Sundays.

    Sources
  4. A red-brick museum entrance with a long red sign reading Bradbury Science Museum
    The entrance of the Bradbury Science Museum on Central Avenue, Los Alamos, July 2007. Blueag9 · CC BY-SA 3.0

    Central Avenue, downtown Los Alamos

    Bradbury Science Museum

    The Laboratory’s own museum has more than 60 interactive exhibits in three galleries: History, Defense and Research.

    Free. Open Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 5pm and Sunday 1pm to 5pm; closed on Mondays.

    Sources

Stay

Sleep on the set, or by the Plaza.

Ghost Ranch, where the copy of Los Alamos was built, and the old hotel on Santa Fe’s Plaza.

Ghost Ranch

Ghost Ranch

US 84 near Abiquiu, New Mexico

Sleep where the film built its Los Alamos: historic adobes, lodge rooms, bunkhouses and campsites on 21,000 acres. Guest-quarter stays include three meals a day.

Check stays
La Fonda

La Fonda on the Plaza

100 East San Francisco Street, Santa Fe

The only hotel on Santa Fe’s historic Plaza, a member of Historic Hotels of America, a short walk from the Memorial Bataan Building.

Check rooms

Go there

The Secret City on foot.

The History Museum’s guided tours, and day trips up the Hill from Santa Fe.

Los Alamos History Museum

History of the Secret City guided tours

1050 Bathtub Row, Los Alamos · $25 adults · under-18s free with a ticketed adult

Guided tours from the museum on Bathtub Row, taking in an Ancestral Pueblo site and the homestead-era Romero Cabin. Tickets include museum entry.

See tour times
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What’s on

The one open day.

Trinity Site opens to the public on Saturday 17 October 2026.

Checking current event dates…

Take it home

The biography, the score, the poster.

American Prometheus, Ludwig Göransson’s score on CD and an original one-sheet.

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American Prometheus

Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin · Vintage

The 2005 biography the film is based on, in paperback.

Find the book
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Oppenheimer: original motion picture soundtrack

Ludwig Göransson · 2 × CD, Back Lot Music / Mondo, 2023

The score on two CDs, released in September 2023.

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Find a copy
Printed Originals · Our poster store

Oppenheimer (2023) — one-sheet

An original 2023 US one-sheet, 27 × 40 inches, rolled and in mint condition.

In stock

View poster

Dates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.

The transcript

Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.

12 of 12 places · 10 of 10 Moments

  • Fuller Lodge

    2132 Central Avenue, Los Alamos, across the road from Ashley Pond

    • The lodge

      Scenes are shot inside and outside the Ranch School lodge that fed the Manhattan Project.

  • The Oppenheimer House, Bathtub Row

    1967 Peach Street, at the corner of Bathtub Row

    • The house on Bathtub Row

      Scenes are filmed in the restored house where the Oppenheimers lived from 1943 to 1945.

  • Los Alamos History Museum

    1050 Bathtub Row, Los Alamos

    • Bradbury Science Museum

      Central Avenue, downtown Los Alamos

      • Ghost Ranch

        US 84 near Abiquiu, 54 miles north of Los Alamos

        • The town on the mesa

          A 1940s Los Alamos is built on a plateau at Ghost Ranch, three months of building for six days of filming.

      • Lamy station

        152 Old Lamy Trail, Lamy, south of Santa Fe

        • Arriving by train

          Train scenes are shot near Lamy, where newcomers arrive for Los Alamos.

      • Memorial Bataan Building

        400 Don Gaspar Avenue, Santa Fe

        • The Senate hearing

          The old state capitol plays Washington for Strauss’s confirmation hearing.

      • The Old Post Office, Albuquerque

        123 Fourth Street SW, at Gold Avenue, downtown Albuquerque

        • The New York hotel

          Albuquerque’s Old Post Office plays a New York hotel.

      • Trinity Site

        White Sands Missile Range, entered by Stallion Gate off US 380

        • 16 July 1945

          The first nuclear test, here in the desert. The film recreated it on private land near Belen.

      • LeConte Hall (Physics North), UC Berkeley

        Oppenheimer Way, UC Berkeley campus

        • Berkeley, 1940s

          The campus around LeConte Hall, where Oppenheimer taught, is dressed back to the 1940s.

      • Millennium Biltmore Hotel

        506 South Grand Avenue, downtown Los Angeles

        • The San Francisco hotel

          The Biltmore’s South Galleria plays a San Francisco hotel.

      • Fuld Hall, Institute for Advanced Study

        1 Einstein Drive, Princeton, New Jersey

        • Strauss meets Oppenheimer

          Fuld Hall, where Oppenheimer was director, is where Strauss first meets him in the film.

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