Robert Downey Jr. and Matt Damon are both in talks to join the cast of “Oppenheimer,” the next film from director Christopher Nolan, an individual with knowledge told TheWrap.
They’re set to join Cillian Murphy in the title role as the father of the Atomic Bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer. They’ll also star alongside Emily Blunt, who last week was reported to be in talks to join the film. It’s unclear what roles the three are expected to portray.
“Oppenheimer” is set at Universal Pictures and Nolan’s Syncopy. The film already has a release date in theaters on July 21, 2023.
“Oppenheimer” will be Nolan’s 12th film, not to mention his second with Damon following “Interstellar” and his first with Downey Jr. The film is a biopic about J. Robert Oppenheimer based on the Pulitzer-Prize winning book “American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer” by Kai Bird and the late Martin J. Sherwin. The film is described as a “pulse-pounding paradox of the enigmatic man who must risk destroying the world in order to save it.”
Universal had no comment.
Oppenheimer was a theoretical physicist and a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. During wartime he was the head of the Los Alamos Laboratory and was known as the “father of the atomic bomb” for his role in the “Manhattan Project” that first developed nuclear weapons for World War II. He also supervised the Trinity Test, where the first atomic bomb was successfully detonated in New Mexico.
Universal also announced that the film will be shot in IMAX 65mm and 65mm large-format film print and will begin production in early 2022.
Matt Damon last starred in and co-wrote “The Last Duel” and also appeared in “Stillwater” earlier this year. Robert Downey Jr. last appeared in “Dolittle” and is next set to star in the series “The Sympathizer” for HBO and A24.
Damon and Downey Jr. are both represented by WME.
Deadline first reported the news.