Oppenheimer

Cillian Murphy stars in Oppenheimer alongside Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, Emily Blunt, and more.

“Students of American history will now be able to read the last chapter and see that what was done to Oppenheimer in that kangaroo court proceeding was not the last word.” The atomic bomb creator was accused of spying on behalf of the Soviets, undergoing a “kangaroo court” trial which ended in him losing access to his atomic bomb research and effectively ending his career. The injustice done to Oppenheimer doesn’t get undone by this. “I think recreating the Trinity test [the first nuclear weapon detonation ever] without the use of computer graphics was a huge challenge to take on,” Nolan recently said. The central visual effect was not created in a digital graphics lab, but instead uses practical effects to “Theory will only take you so far.”

Cillian Murphy plays the inventor of the atomic bomb in the upcoming film, which features a star-studded ensemble and, well, lots of fire.

[Emily Blunt](https://ew.com/person/emily-blunt) plays biologist and botanist Katherine "Kitty" Oppenheimer; [Matt Damon](https://ew.com/person/matt-damon/) plays Manhattan Project head General Leslie Groves Jr.; [Robert Downey, Jr.](https://ew.com/person/robert-downey-jr) plays U.S. Atomic Energy Commission founder Lewis Strauss; [Florence Pugh](https://ew.com/person/florence-pugh) plays psychiatrist Jean Tatlock; Benny Safdie plays physicist Edward Teller; and Josh Hartnett plays nuclear scientist Ernest Lawrence. That footage includes dialogue with Damon, and makes clear that the film will oscillate between color photography and black-and-white. "We imagine a future, and our imaginings horrify us," Murphy's Oppenheimer says in narration, over footage of explosions and the desert location of the Los Alamos Laboratory. Robert Oppenheimer, the leading theoretical physicist of the Manhattan Project and "father of the atomic bomb." The new trailer finds him pondering a nuclear future — and he doesn't exactly sound happy about it.

“Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” Upon witnessing the Trinity atomic bomb test in 1945, American physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer thought of ...

His newest film looks like a fascinating cross between the abstract, elegiac parts of Interstellar and the period dressing of Dunkirk. He saw physics clearly, looking toward what had already been done, but at the border he tended to feel there was much more of the mysterious and novel than there actually was ...” Hinduism was of particular interest, which is why Oppenheimer quoted Gita when he was interviewed for the 1965 television documentary A historical figure like Oppenheimer is catnip for Christopher Nolan, who can split the atomic difference between Hollywood spectacle, technical precision, and thoughtful introspection. Sherwin, Oppenheimer will tell the physicist’s life story, primarily through his involvement with the Manhattan Project as head of the Los Alamos Laboratory. [Bhagavad Gita](https://www.inverse.com/mind-body/wisdom-gender), one of Hinduism’s holy texts.

The film, out in NZ in July next year, chronicles the life and times of the American physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer.

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Christopher Nolan's 'Oppenheimer follows' the nuclear physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer and is based on the book 'American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy ...

[Not CGI.](https://www.vulture.com/2022/12/christopher-nolan-oppenheimer-nuclear-explosion-without-cgi.html) The film re-creates the first-ever nuclear-weapon detonation without the use of computer graphics for filming purposes. Iron Man](https://www.vulture.com/2019/05/robert-downey-jr-what-will-marvel-be-without-him.html) Shakespeare enthusiast [Kenneth Branagh](https://www.vulture.com/2022/01/kenneth-branagh-belfast-interview.html) appears as well, alongside Josh Hartnett, Dane DeHaan, [Jack Quaid](https://www.vulture.com/article/hollywood-nepotism-babies-list-taxonomy.html), Matthew Modine, Alden Ehrenreich, David Krumholtz, and Michael Angarano. [Matt Damon](https://www.vulture.com/article/best-matt-damon-movies-ranked.html) (Good Will Hunting) and Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody) star as well, with the former playing Manhattan Project director Leslie Groves. [all-star cast](https://www.vulture.com/2021/11/robert-downey-jr-to-star-in-his-first-nolan-film.html). Plus, there’s [Emily Blunt](https://www.vulture.com/2022/10/the-english-trailer-emily-blunt-chaske-spencer-release-date.html), best known (by me) for The Devil Wears Prada, and, more recently, for her turn in The Quiet Place. The most unbothered star of this year’s Venice Film Festival ( [Florence Pugh](https://www.vulture.com/2022/12/a-good-person-release-date-trailer-cast-plot.html), duh) — remember when she strutted the carpet in a purple matching set clutching an Aperol spritz during [a worrying press tour](https://www.vulture.com/2022/10/dont-worry-darling-drama-timeline.html)? [Cillian Murphy](https://www.vulture.com/2021/10/cillian-murphy-cast-as-oppenheimer-in-next-chris-nolan-film.html), longtime Nolan collaborator (Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, Dunkirk) and Peaky Blinders star, plays Oppenheimer. — with whom he made the Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, Dunkirk, and Tenet — over the latter film’s aforementioned release. Robert Oppenheimer, by Kai Bird and the late Martin J. No, he’s not (still) upset about Tenet’s pandemic-era release (though he did [permanently abandon](https://www.vulture.com/2021/09/christopher-nolan-chooses-universal-over-warner-bros.html) [ex-BFF Warner Bros.](https://www.vulture.com/2020/12/christopher-nolan-doubles-down-on-warner-bros-criticism.html'), which he believes bungled the palindrome movie’s release). [nuclear](https://www.vulture.com/2022/12/christopher-nolan-oppenheimer-nuclear-explosion-without-cgi.html).

Christopher Nolan unveils the new trailer for his next epic, which stars Florence Pugh, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., and Matt Damon.

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