Christopher Nolan's apocalyptic anxieties are on full display as the first trailer for his upcoming film Oppenheimer has been released. The film stars Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer, the theoretical physicist responsible for spearheading the development of the first nuclear weapon - often referred to as "the father of the atomic bomb" for his role in the Manhattan Project.
"This is the most important thing to ever happen in the history of the world," Matt Damon declares in the newly released trailer, as he appears in the film as Lieutenant General Leslie Groves, the Manhattan Project's military director and the man responsible for overseeing the Pentagon's construction. Murphy's Oppenheimer grapples with the moral dilemma involved in the development of a weapon more deadly than the world had ever seen up until that point, one responsible for ending World War Two, but one that "gave [humanity] the power to destroy themselves"; Oppenheimer asserts in the trailer that "our work here will ensure a peace mankind has never seen," which is met with a bleak "until somebody builds a bigger bomb."
An Experience Fit For Theaters
The film, which is Nolan's first biopic as well as his first film to not be distributed by Warner Bros. since 2000's Momento. As well as Murphy and Damon, the film also stars Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh Jack Quaid, Benny Safdie, Rami Malek, Dane DeHaan, Josh Hartnett, Matthew Modine, Kenneth Branagh, David Krumholtz, Michael Angarano and Alden Ehrenreich. Speaking at the Los Angeles premiere of Air back in March, Damon confirmed that the upcoming film would clock in at a hefty 3 hours in length, being Nolan's longest film to date and becoming the latest in a recent trend of lengthy blockbusters. Oppenheimer was shot using IMAX cameras, ensuring the film will provide audiences with the theatrical spectacle Nolan's films have become synonymous with on an epic scale. Nolan's desire to give audiences an experience fit for a cinema viewing experience was one of the catalysts for his public break-up with Warner Bros., following their controversial day-and-date release strategy for theaters and streaming service Max (formerly known as HBO Max) back in 2021. If Damon's comments at the premiere of Air are to be believed, the trip to theaters will be worth it for audiences as he called the film "fantastic," as well as insisting that its hefty runtime was more than earned, saying "no, no! God no... it goes so fast. It's great."
Oppenheimer is set to be released exclusively into theaters on July 21 via Universal Studios. The film is going up against the upcoming Barbie film from Greta Gerwig, which opens in cinemas on the very same day in a box office face-off for the ages. You can check out the trailer for Oppenheimer below: