RDJ And Matt Damon Are Joining The Cast Of Christopher Nolan's Nuke Movie

The ensemble for Christopher Nolan’s next film Oppenheimer keeps growing in star power as sources tell Deadline Matt Damon and Robert Downey Jr. are in talks to join Cillian Murphy in the Universal Pictures tentpole. Deadline previously reported that Emily Blunt is in talks to join the cast as well. Nolan is writing and directing the film that revolves around J. Robert Oppenheimer, the scientist who ran the Manhattan Project that led to the invention of the atomic bomb. The film will bow on July 21, 2023, a slot typically saved for Nolan films in the past. Details behind who Damon and Downey will be playing in the project are being kept under wraps.

I'll note that, according to THR: 

According to sources, Damon will play Lt. Gen. Leslie Groves, the director of the Manhattan Project that created the atomic bomb. Downey will play Lewis Strauss, the infamous Atomic Energy Commissioner who initiated hearings that questioned Oppenheimer’s loyalty to the United States and infamously had the scientist’s security revoked.

 This is big, BIG news for this project. Getting Damon alone is awesome because he is obviously a big star and Nolan has worked with him before. But to get a star like Downey Jr. to come out of whatever castle his Marvel fortune has bought him is a sign that Universal is taking this new partnership very seriously. Bravo!

This movie is shaping up to be quite different than what was originally thought to be a simple biopic about the father of the nuclear bomb. It was confirmed that this is an IMAX joint, and now that this cast is only getting bigger and flashier, you gotta think that this is going to be a lot more than that. 

In case you missed any of my previous blogs on this project, here is a recap of the subject matter: Oppenheimer was a brilliant scientist that helped create the atomic bomb while director of the Los Alamos lab. He was also the son of a wealthy German immigrant, and used his inheritance to fund anti-fascist organizations after the rise of Hitler in his ancestral homeland. After WWII, he was advisor to the Atomic Energy Commission before having his security clearance revoked during the communist witch hunts of the 50's. In the years after creating the bomb, he showed a lot of regret for his role in the project. Not specifically for its use to end WWII, but because of the arms race that threatened our planets existence. I think most people are familiar with him making this quote: 

"We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita; Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and, to impress him, takes on his multi-armed form and says, 'Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' I suppose we all thought that, one way or another"