Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer: Release Date, Trailer, Cast & More

Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer: Release Date, Trailer, Cast & More

Billboards and movie theater pop-ups across Los Angeles have been ticking down for months now: Christopher Nolan’s epic account of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb, is nearing an explosive release on July 21, 2023.
Nolan movies are always incredibly secretive, twists locked alongside totems behind safe doors, actors not spilling an ounce of Earl Grey tea. But there are always curtains to pull to glimpse the magic behind the prestige, even with a Nolan film based on real events. So with more than five months left until IMAX theaters are packed to the brim, here’s everything...

Billboards and movie theater pop-ups across Los Angeles have been ticking down for months now: Christopher Nolan’s epic account of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb, is nearing an explosive release on July 21, 2023.
Nolan movies are always incredibly secretive, twists locked alongside totems behind safe doors, actors not spilling an ounce of Earl Grey tea. But there are always curtains to pull to glimpse the magic behind the prestige, even with a Nolan film based on real events. So with more than five months left until IMAX theaters are packed to the brim, here’s everything we know about Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer : Behind the Film (Photo by Melinda Sue Gordon/Paramount Pictures)
Christopher Nolan returns after three years and Tenet’ s rocky pandemic-delayed release for his 12th feature film, Oppenheimer. The biopic about the infamous theoretical physicist represents a number of transformations for Nolan’s career. First and foremost, the film is his first with Universal Pictures following his dramatic split with his previous studio partner, Warner Bros., which had released all of his films since Insomnia . (Paramount and Warner Bros. shared distribution on Interstellar .)
In 2021, WB opted to debut their entire feature slate in theaters and on HBO Max simultaneously. In response, Nolan, an avid defender of the theatrical experience, called them “the worst streaming service.” Numerous studios — Sony, Paramount, Apple among them — engaged in a war to land production and distribution for Oppenheimer. Universal acquiesced to Nolan’s conditions, which included total creative control and a traditional theatrical window, and won out at the end of the day. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)
Nolan’s production team has solidified, but slightly changed, too. Oscar-winning composer Ludwig Göransson, who is only a Tony away from an EGOT, returns after his first collaboration with Nolan on Tenet, furthering the question of whether Nolan’s famed partnership with Hans Zimmer is over or just on pause. Oppenheimer will mark the fourth Nolan picture shot by Dutch-Swedish cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema, who can literally carry an IMAX camera on his shoulders. And visual effects supervisor Andrew Jackson (Mad Max: Fury Road, Dunkirk, Tenet) tag-teamed with long-time Nolan special effects supervisor Scott R. Fisher to simulate the nuclear tests. (More on those later.)
The newcomers, however, are 45-year veteran costume designer Ellen Mirojnick (Behind the Candelabra, The Greatest Showman, Bridgerton) and production designer Ruth De Jong, who worked with Van Hoytema and Universal on Nope. The Cast (Photo by Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures)
Roughly 20 years after Cillian Murphy’s screen test for Nolan’s Batman Begins , which was so entrancing to the director that it led to Murphy’s casting as the villainous Scarecrow, the Irish actor finally steps into a leading role for one of his greatest cinematic partners. And if the trailer is any indication, with close-up after close-up, Murphy’s hypnotic eyes will be the window into one of the most complex minds in human history. Matt Damon also steps up from secret role in Interstellar to mustached general Leslie Groves Jr. And the reunions run deep overall, as Oppenheimer features Casey Affleck (Interstellar), Kenneth Branagh (Dunkirk, Tenet), James D’Arcy (Dunkirk), Matthew Modine (The Dark Knight Rises), David Dastmalchian (The Dark Knight), and Gary Oldman (The Dark Knight Trilogy) as President Harry S. Truman. (Photo by Emma McIntyre, Karwai Tang, Mondadori Portfolio, Kevin Mazur/Getty Images)
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