Matt Damon and Robert Downey Jr have joined the cast of Christopher Nolan’s forthcoming film about the creation of the atomic bomb.
The Hollywood stars will appear in Oppenheimer alongside Irish actor Cillian Murphy, 45, in the lead role as theoretical physicist J Robert Oppenheimer.
The scientist is known as the “father of the atomic bomb”.
It is not known who Damon, 51, and Downey Jr, 56, will play in the film.
Emily Blunt will star as Oppenheimer’s wife Katherine, it was previously reported.
Universal Pictures is distributing acclaimed director Nolan’s latest film, a break from his usual collaboration with Warner Bros.
The studio described Oppenheimer as an “epic thriller that thrusts audiences into the pulse-pounding paradox of the enigmatic man who must risk destroying the world in order to save it”.
The film 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.
Murphy is a favourite collaborator of Nolan, 51, with the pair previously working together on the Dark Knight trilogy, Inception and Dunkirk.
As well as directing Oppenheimer, Nolan is writing the film’s script.
Oppenheimer is set for release in July 2023.
