Olivia Thirlby is the newest addition to Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer

This marks the Juno actor's biggest movie role in years

By Tatiana Tenreyro  |  April 15, 2022 | 7:40pm
Aux News Thirlby
Olivia Thirlby is the newest addition to Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer
Olivia Thirlby Photo: Amy Sussman

Christopher Nolan’s casting for Oppenheimer has been just as star-studded as Rian Johnson’s Knives Out 2 and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie. Over the past few months, Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, Benny Safdie, Florence Pugh, Josh Peck, Kenneth Branagh, Dane DeHaan, Rami Malek, Jack Quaid, and more were announced to star. Now there’s yet another addition to the list: Olivia Thirlby. This news was confirmed by Deadline.

This marks Thirlby’s first big movie role in a while. The actor had a breakout role in Oscar-winning comedy Juno as the titular character’s best friend Leah. Since then, she’s had steady TV roles (including in Bored To Death and The L Word: Generation Q), and been in some smaller budget movies. No details about who she’ll play in Oppenheimer have been shared yet.

Though not all the roles for the robust, eclectic cast have been announced yet, it was previously reported that Murphy will play Oppenheimer himself. Blunt is said to be playing his wife, Kitty. Sources had also told The Hollywood Reporter that Damon is set to play director of the Manhattan Project, Lt. General Leslie Groves, and Downey will play Lewis Strauss, the Atomic Energy Commissioner. Josh Peck will reportedly play Kenneth Bainbridge, one of the Manhattan Project scientists.

The film, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography American Prometheus: The Triumph And Tragedy Of J. Robert Oppenheimer, will tell the story of Oppenheimer, the theoretical physicist who is referred to as the “father of the atomic bomb” for being at the center of the Manhattan Project.

This also marks Nolan’s first film, after his unceremonious “breakup” with Warner Bros, that’s being made under Universal. At least this time Nolan won’t have to worry about the movie premiering on HBO Max.

Oppenheimer hits theaters on July 21, 2023.

 
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