What is the age-gap controversy surrounding Florence Pugh and Cillian Murphy in the new Oppenheimer movie?

Oppenheimer is one of the biggest movies premiering this week and with Christopher Nolan as director and a star-studded cast including Cillian Murphy, Florence Pugh and Robert Downey Jr, the movie is set for global success. 

The film follows the story of American scientist J Robert Oppenheimer and his role in the development of the Atomic Bomb. It is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, ‘American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, written by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin.

Cillian,47, plays the titular role alongside Florence, 27, who plays the woman he had an extra-marital affair with - Jean Tatlock. Ahead of the film's premiere the actors have faced backlash over their on-screen relationship and their 20-year age gap. 

Age gap relationship on or off screen certainly isn’t anything new to Hollywood so why is it that people feel so strongly about the pairs coupling in this film? In real life the couple’s age gap was actually around 10 years so it’s understandable why critics are calling it a ‘miscast’. 

However, fans have come out to defend Florence playing the role, as one person wrote on social media  “[Jean] Tatlock was 22 years old when she started dating Oppenheimer and 29 when she died”. The movie follows Oppenheimer’s life over decades and Jean is only in the film for part of his life so it makes sense Florence who is 27 years old would play Jean throughout her 20s. 

It’s not the first time Florence has been embroiled in an age gap debate. The British actress was in a relationship with 'Scrubs' actor Zach Braff who is 21 years her senior. The couple dated for three years and would often have to defend their age-gap relationship. Speaking to Harper's Bazaar Florence said "We've been trying to do this separation without the world knowing because it's been a relationship that everybody has an opinion on."

There have also been many films that have seen enormous age gaps on screen but no one really batted an eyelid.

In the film ‘As Good As It Gets’ Jack Nicholson was 60 when co-star Helen Hunt was 34.

Scarlett Johansson was 18 when she played opposite Bill Murray, 52,  in ‘Lost in Translation’ and Elizabeth Olsen was just 31 when she starred in ‘Wandavison’ alongside Paul Bettany, 49.

Oppenheimer is out in cinemas from 21 July.