• The film stars Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer and Emily Blunt as his wife, biologist and botanist Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer. Oscar-winner Matt Damon portrays Gen. Leslie Groves Jr., director of the Manhattan Project, and Robert Downey Jr. plays Lewis Strauss, a founding commissioner of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.

 

The New Mexico Film Office announced this month that the feature film “Oppenheimer” was in production in Abiquiu and Los Alamos.

Robert Oppenheimer

“’Oppenheimer’ is a project from one of New Mexico’s Film Partner’s (NBCUniversal). This production is employing thousands of New Mexicans and will be partially filmed in Los Alamos, which is only appropriate as the development of the atomic bomb is deeply tied to New Mexico,” said Amber Dodson, director of the film office. “We welcome Christopher Nolan and the all-star cast to New Mexico to shoot this major feature film in our state.”

Written and directed by Nolan, “Oppenheimer” is an IMAX-shot thriller that thrusts audiences into the paradox of the enigmatic man who must risk destroying the world in order to save it. The film is produced by Emma Thomas, Atlas Entertainment’s Charles Roven and Nolan.

The film stars Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer and Emily Blunt as his wife, biologist and botanist Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer. Oscar-winner Matt Damon portrays Gen. Leslie Groves Jr., director of the Manhattan Project, and Robert Downey Jr. plays Lewis Strauss, a founding commissioner of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.

Academy Award-nominee Florence Pugh plays psychiatrist Jean Tatlock; Benny Safdie plays theoretical physicist Edward Teller; Michael Angarano plays Robert Serber; and Josh Hartnett plays American nuclear scientist Ernest Lawrence.

The production will employ approximately 190 New Mexico crew members and 1,200 New Mexico background and extras.

Universal Pictures will distribute “Oppenheimer” theatrically worldwide and is scheduled to release the film in North American theaters in July 2023. The film is 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.