Christopher Nolan has continued rounding out the cast of his new war movie Oppenheimer. Deadline reports that Marvel Cinematic Universe star Florence Pugh and James Bond villain Rami Malek have both joined the upcoming thriller movie’s all-star cast, which includes Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr, Emily Blunt, and Cillian Murphy.
Benny Safdie, the director-actor behind films like Good Time and Uncut Gems, is also joining the ensemble. It’s reported that Pugh is playing Jean Tatlock, a member of the Communist Party of the United States and journalist who had a long-running affair with Oppenheimer. Meanwhile, Safdie is playing Edward Teller, one of Oppenheimer’s fiercest critics who helped to develop the hydrogen bomb.
Intriguingly Malek’s character is being kept a secret, he will apparently be playing a “scientist” but there are no other details at this time. Written and directed by Nolan, Oppenheimer – as the name suggests – will tell the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb. Murphy will be playing the titular scientist while Blunt has been cast as his fellow scientist and wife Katherine.
Oppenheimer is Nolan’s first movie since Memento that he’s not made with Warner Bros. Nolan reportedly had a falling out with the studio following their decision to move a number of movies to HBO Max without consulting the filmmakers behind them.
“Some of our industry’s biggest filmmakers and most important movie stars went to bed the night before thinking they were working for the greatest movie studio and woke up to find out they were working for the worst streaming service,” he told The Hollywood Reporter at the time.
A bidding war then ensued for the Oppenheimer movie and Universal won out. It’s reported the studio agreed to a production budget of $100 million and equal marketing spend. Not only that he’s believed to have secured a 100-day theatrical exclusive window and Universal have allegedly promised not to release any other films for three weeks before or after Oppenheimer’s release date. Sounds pretty good to us.
Oppenheimer is set for release on 21 July 2023. While you wait why not check out our list of the best action movies.