Every day it seems as though a new A-lister joins the cast of Christopher Nolan’s ambitious upcoming film Oppenheimer, which stars Cillian Murphy of Peaky Blinders as J. Robert Oppenheimer. And if you can’t keep them all straight, fear not; read on.
On Tuesday, Universal provided a first-look image from the film: a black-and-white portrait of Murphy in character as Oppenheimer—who was one of the physicists credited with creating the atomic bomb as part of the Manhattan Project during World War II—gazing into the camera with a cigarette dangling from his lips. The studio also announced on Tuesday that Kenneth Branagh has boarded the project, though there are currently no details about his character.
Branagh is just the latest in an impressive slew of stars set to appear in Oppenheimer. A Quiet Place actress Emily Blunt is set to play Oppenheimer’s wife, biologist Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer. Matt Damon will play General Leslie Groves Jr., the director of the Manhattan Project, and Robert Downey Jr. is taking on the role of U.S. Atomic Energy Commission chairman Lewis Strauss.
Continuing her own professional hot streak, Florence Pugh (Black Widow, Little Women) is starring as Jean Tatlock, a psychiatrist and member of the Communist party who had a romantic relationship with Oppenheimer.
The sprawling ensemble cast also includes Uncut Gems (or should we say Uncah Jamz?) filmmaker Benny Safdie, Josh Hartnett, Michael Angarano, Rami Malek, Dylan Arnold, Dane DeHaan, Matthew Modine, David Krumholtz, and Alden Ehrenreich.
For many of the cast members, this won’t be their first time teaming up with Nolan. Branagh, who was recently nominated for multiple Academy Awards for his film Belfast, previously worked with the British director on Dunkirk and Tenet. Murphy, meanwhile, appeared in all three of Nolan’s Batman films, as well as Dunkirk and Inception. Damon had a role in Nolan’s 2014 sci-fi epic Interstellar, while Stranger Things’ Modine was in The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises.
With a humongous budget of $100 million, Oppenheimer has already entered the initial stages of production and is slated for release on July 21, 2023. Only time will tell if there’s still an audience for this type of bleak, intense adult drama in a film world increasingly dominated by superhero flicks and family fare. But at least it has an A-list roster working in its favor.
