Off Target

Whose bomb is it, anyway? And why?

“We’re sitting here, trying to figure out what went wrong,” admitted Roland Joffe, director/co-writer of “Fat Man and Little Boy.”

Joffe’s pic--about the making of the A-bomb--was long considered a prestige project starring Paul Newman as Gen. Leslie R. Groves, whose views collided with those of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer.

Joffe is irked by some critics who thumbs-downed the film. But the public hasn’t lined up, either. After three weekends, “Fat Man” has grossed a paltry $3.2 million, down to fewer than 200 screens from a high of 802.

Joffe wonders if the film’s message--that the A-bomb shouldn’t have been dropped--wasn’t rejected by moviegoers “at some gut level.” It’s also possible, he said, that “Day One”--NBC’s hit miniseries about the bomb--hurt the film.

“But I wasn’t telling that story,” Joffe said. “I was telling the story of two men pulled into a kind of seduction and corruption, which changed the entire way that we live.

“Then there are those people who want heroes,” he added. “But this movie doesn’t have an identifiable hero--because it’s about two men who are making mistakes.”

He defended the performances of both Newman and Dwight Schultz (as Oppenheimer).

“There are no regrets,” he insisted. “I’m proud of everyone involved in this picture. I’m proud that Paramount had the guts to make it. They always knew it was risky material.”