Following some exciting casting additions, Christopher Nolan's next feature film, Oppenheimer, is shaping up to be a big awards season contender. Now, new plot and character details have reportedly been revealed.
Nolan's highly-anticipated film will center on theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, who will be played by longtime Nolan collaborator Cillian Murphy, and his involvement with the creation of the atom bomb. Universal will be releasing the upcoming biopic after Nolan's departure from Warner Bros. Other big cast names starring alongside Murphy include Robert Downy Jr., Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Benny Safdie, and Rami Malek. Oppenheimer is based on the 2005 Pulitzer Prize winner American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer.
According to a leaked production listing via World of Reel, Oppenheimer will begin filming this coming March. While, Murphy's, Pugh's (Communist Party member Jean Tatlock), and Safdie's (Hungarian Physicist Edward Teller) Oppenheimer characters have already been revealed, the new reports now indicate that Damon is set to play Lieutenant General Leslie Groves, the director of the Manhattan Project, while Downey Jr. will fill the role of Atomic Energy Commission chairman Lewis Strauss. Blunt will play Oppenheimer's wife, Katherine Oppenheimer Vissering.
On top of the new character announcements, reports reveal that the plot will follow a younger Oppenheimer during his days at Harvard and Cambridge, before moving to Germany and California to become the leader in the field of theoretical physics and contributing his work to creating the atom bomb. As its real-life story indicates, Oppenheimer is shaping up to be one of Nolan's slower burn films, as it appears it will serve more as a drama rather than a large-scale war epic like Dunkirk.
Now looking to start fresh with a new studio that is set to meet his demands, Nolan seems more than ready to return to the big screen to deliver something truly spectacular with one of his most exciting ensembles to date. Nolan is set to write Oppenheimer, while Emma Thomas, Nolan's creative partner and wife, will produce with Charles Roven.
It is also reported that Nolan will reunite with cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema (who worked with Nolan on Interstellar, Dunkirk, and Tenet) to shoot in 65mm IMAX, the format Nolan has been using on all of his films since The Dark Knight. Furthermore, composer Ludwig Göransson (who worked with Nolan for the first time on Tenet, filling in for Nolan's long time collaborator Hans Zimmer) will produce the score.
Oppenheimer is set to release in theatres on July 21, 2023.
Source: World of Reel