Friday 13 May 2022 12:47 AM Cillian Murphy undergoes physical transformation to play Dr J. Robert ... trends now
Cillian Murphy has gone through an amazing physical transformation to play Dr J. Robert Oppenheimer, the 'father of the atomic bomb', in a £81million blockbuster.
The Peaky Blinders star, 45, lost at least a stone to portray the tortured genius, who was a distinctively stooped and lanky figure, seldom seen without a cigarette.
An exclusive picture shows him and Matt Damon outside Fuller Lodge in the Los Alamos research facility, where the Christopher Nolan film, called Oppenheimer, has had permission to shoot, and where the atomic bomb was first built.
New look: Cillian Murphy (pictured with Matt Damon) has gone through a physical transformation to play Dr J. Robert Oppenheimer, the 'father of the atomic bomb', in a biopic
Original: A picture shows Cillian outside Fuller Lodge in the Los Alamos research facility, recreating the 1945 presentation (pictured) of the Army-Navy 'E' Award to the physicist
Matt, 51, plays General Leslie R Groves, the commanding general of the Manhattan Project which built, designed and tested the world's first atomic weapons.
In the picture, the men are recreating the 1945 presentation of the Army-Navy 'E' Award (the E stands for excellence in production of war equipment) to the physicist, who was stepping down as the facility's director.
Cillian leads an all-star cast for the biopic, with British actresses Emily Blunt and Florence Pugh playing his wife and mistress, respectively.
Oscar winner Gary Oldman has a small role, said to be as President Truman.
Biopic: Cillian leads an all-star cast for the biopic, with British actresses Emily Blunt and Florence Pugh playing his wife and mistress, respectively
Transformation: The Peaky Blinders star (left now and right in 2017), 45, lost at least a stone to portray the tortured genius, who was a distinctively stooped and lanky figure
Truman met Oppenheimer after the bombs were used in 1945, killing 200,000 people, and Oppenheimer said that he felt he had blood on his hands.
Truman had little use for such pangs of conscience and dismissed him as a 'crybaby scientist'.
Kenneth Branagh is also in the film, and rumour has it that he plays FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover, who was suspicious of Oppie and his 'Communist sympathies'.
The cast also features Robert Downey, Rami Malek, Josh Hartnett and many more. Hartnett portrays Ernest Lawrence, who's among the scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project.
The pioneering American nuclear physicist won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1939 for his invention of the cyclotron, which is a particle accelerator.
New role: Cillian (left) will be taking on the lead role of J. Robert Oppenheimer (pictured right in 1963) in the biopic, which reportedly has a budget of $100million
Josh Peck plays American physicist Kenneth Bainbridge, the director of the Manhattan Project's Trinity nuclear test during the development of the first atomic weapons.
The film is being adapted adapted from the 2006 book American Prometheus: The Triumph And Tragedy Of J. Robert Oppenheimer, by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin.
The book, which won the Pulitzer Prize, details Oppenheimer's personal life and his time leading the Manhattan Project in the early and mid-1940s.
Oppenheimer, which reportedly has a budget of $100million (£81million), is directed by Christopher Nolan.
True story: The film tells the story of Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer and his contributions that lead to the creation of the atomic bomb (pictured left at Trinity Test Site in 1945)
Smart: Matt Damon (pictured on set last month) plays Lieutenant General Leslie Groves in the much-anticipated biopic
Cillian has cultivated a long relationship with Nolan, who tends to work with many of his supporting actors repeatedly.
The two first worked together on 2005's Batman Begins, and Murphy appeared in its sequels The
