WASHINGTON: Actor Cillian Murphy is reteaming with Christopher Nolan for the ace filmmaker's new project, now officially titled 'Oppenheimer'.
As per The Hollywood Reporter, Universal, which landed the project in September with much ado as it became Nolan's first movie in years not to be made with his now-former longtime studio home, Warner Bros., announced the details on Friday.
The studio also set a North American theatrical release date of July 21, 2023. The summer month has long been a Nolan release tradition.
Murphy will play J. Robert Oppenheimer, the American physicist whose role running the Los Alamos Laboratory and involvement in the Manhattan Project has led him to be dubbed the "father of the atomic bomb."
Murphy and Nolan are longtime collaborators. Nolan and Murphy previously worked together on 'Batman Begins', 'Inception' and 'Dunkirk'.
Nolan is writing the script and will direct the movie. Producing will be his partner and wife, Emma Thomas, and Charles Roven of Atlas Entertainment.
Production will begin in early 2022 and shoot on Imax 65mm and 65mm large-format film. Nolan has already assembled some below-the-line talent, including director of photography Hoyte Van Hoytema, who worked with him on 'Tenet', 'Dunkirk' and 'Interstellar', and editor Jennifer Lame and composer Ludwig Goransson, who both also worked on 'Tenet'.
'Oppenheimer' is based on the 2005 Pulitzer Prize-winning book 'American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer' by Kai Bird and the late Martin J. Sherwin, the latter of whom passed away recently.