Several set photos from the filming of director Christopher Nolan’s upcoming biopic, Oppenheimer, have emerged, revealing Cillian Murphy as the titular scientist as well as co-stars Emily Blunt and Matt Damon. Shared to social media by Twitter user @thompn4, the images offer our first look at both Blunt and Damon, with Blunt set to play Katherine "Kitty" Oppenheimer while Damon will portray Lieutenant General Leslie Richard Groves Jr., the director of the Manhattan Project.
As shown in the images, the scene being filmed is a moment from J. Robert Oppenheimer’s real-life, with the movie recreating the ceremony in which the scientist received the Army-Navy "E" Award. These images are the first time that we have seen what Emily Blunt and Matt Damon will look like in costume, and also give us the best look yet at Cillian Murphy, who for the first time will take the lead in this Christopher Nolan movie.
Oppenheimer will be based on the 2005 Pulitzer Prize-winning book "American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer" by Kai Bird and the late Martin J. Sherwi. The story will follow Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer, the scientist who contributed towards the Manhattan Project that led to the invention of the atomic bomb, exploring the man’s moral struggle and the inner crisis he faced after seeing what his invention was capable of. Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.
Alongside Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer has amassed one of the most impressive casts to ever grave the silver screen. It seems that Nolan has decided to just use every A-list actor in Hollywood, with the supporting cast comprised of Emily Blunt as Katherine Oppenheimer, Matt Damon as Leslie Groves, Robert Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss, and Florence Pugh as Jean Tatlock, as well as Rami Malek, Benny Safdie, Josh Hartnett, Dane DeHaan, Jack Quaid, Matthew Modine, Alden Ehrenreich, Kenneth Branagh, David Dastmalchian, Jason Clarke, Josh Peck, David Krumholtz, Scott Grimes, and many, many more.
Oppenheimer Will Tell the True Story in a Unique, Christopher Nolan-Style Way
Oppenheimer will also see director Christopher Nolan move away from Warner Bros. for the first time due to their simultaneous theatrical and streaming release during the ongoing global circumstances. Universal Pictures emerged victorious from what was surely a heated bidding war and will now develop and distribute the project. While Oppenheimer is a biopic, lead actor Cillian Murphy has revealed that the movie will deal with the real-world events in an unusual, Nolan-esque way.
"The difference with this one is the story is there, everybody knows what happened. But Chris is telling it in a different way, as with Chris you would expect,” Peaky Blinders star Cillian Murphy has previously teased. “That’s all I can say. Is it focused on a particular period of his life? The Manhattan Project, perchance? I’m not going to say. They’d kill me — they’re so strict!”
Oppenheimer is scheduled to be theatrically released by Universal Pictures on July 21, 2023.