Upcoming biopic Oppenheimer has the potential to become one of the biggest blockbusters of recent times. Not only is it helmed by the Oscar-nominated director Christopher Nolan, but it tells the story of the father of the atomic bomb who would come to be known by the infamous words, “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds”: J Robert Oppenheimer.

Upcoming biopic Oppenheimer has the potential to become one of the biggest blockbusters of recent times. Not only is it helmed by the Oscar-nominated director Christopher Nolan, but it tells the story of J Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb who would go on to famously quote from the book of Hindu scriptures, the Bhagavad Gita: “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”

Based on Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin’s Pulitzer Prize-winning biography American Prometheus: The Triumph And Tragedy Of J Robert Oppenheimer, exact plot details for Nolan’s twelfth feature film aren’t known at this time, although the book’s synopsis describes “a brilliant physicist who led efforts to build the atomic bomb for his wartime country, only to be confronted later with the moral consequences of scientific progress”.

What we do know, however, is that half of Hollywood is lined up to appear in the film. Alongside Cillian Murphy as the eponymous scientist, the cast reads like a roll call of the biggest names in the industry right now: Kenneth Branagh, Florence Pugh, Gary Oldman, Robert Downey Jr., Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Devon Bostick, Josh Peck, Rami Malek, Gustaf Skarsgård, Michael Angarano, Jack Quaid, Jason Clarke, Josh Hartnett, Olivia Thirlby, Alex Wolff, David Dastmalchian, Benny Safdie, Matthew Modine and James D’Arcy, who round out this star-studded ensemble.

Oppenheimer is set for release on 21 July 2023.

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