Oppenheimer's Most Unexpected Celebrity Cameos

Christopher Nolan’s new historical epic Oppenheimer blew past expectations in more ways than one during its opening weekend. The film is a hit at the local box office, grossing P57.7 million in its first five days, and is projected to reach P100 million and beyond in the coming weeks. In terms of reception, the numbers speak for themselves. 

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Movie patrons went into the theaters ready to be blown away by the acting chops of multiple A-list actors, including Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., and Florence Pugh. But one thing they weren’t anticipating was the appearance of other familiar Hollywood faces in the film. Oppenheimer really had people pointing their fingers at the silver screen like that one Leonardo DiCaprio meme. 

 

From old familiar faces to totally out-of-the-box ones, Nolan sure loves an explosive cast. Here’s who’s who in Oppenheimer’s long list of celebrity cameos.

Devon Bostick

Devon Bostick takes on a role drastically different from his most recognizable work as Rodrick Heffley in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid trilogy. He’s cast as Seth Neddermeyer, a physicist who led the group that focused on research for implosion-type nuclear weapons during the Manhattan Project.

Josh Peck

Josh Peck breaks out of the comedic mold in playing Kenneth Bainbridge, the physicist who oversaw the Trinity Test, the first-ever detonation of a nuclear weapon. Peck has appeared in a number of television shows, such as iCarly and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but he is mostly known as an alum of the Nickelodeon show Drake & Josh. 

Alex Wolff

Another Nickelodeon alum, Alex Wolff plays Luis Walter Alvarez, a physicist known for his work on particle physics in real life. In the film, Alvarez is in the room with Oppenheimer when news broke that an atom has been split open for the first time. However, Wolff is no stranger to emotionally-charged scenes, having starred in the supernatural horror film Hereditary. 

Dylan Arnold

Dylan Arnold crosses off the opportunity to work with one of the great directors early on in his career as he portrays Frank Oppenheimer, the younger Oppenheimer brother and physics professor who was reluctantly recruited to work on the atomic bomb due to his ties with communism. Arnold’s most notable works include his role in the Netflix’ series You and his recurring appearances in the television shows The Purge and Nashville. 

Tony Goldwyn

Tony Goldwyn appears in Oppenheimer as Gordon Gray, an attorney and national security government official who was one of the leading members of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) committee. Goldwyn has the politician persona down to a T, having played Fitzgerald Grant III (a fictional US president) in the ABC drama Scandal and Harold Nixon (brother of former US president Richard Nixon) in the biographical film Nixon. He was also, of course, in the 1990s blockbuster Ghost.

Josh Hartnett

Josh Hartnett plays Ernest Lawrence, the nuclear physicist and professor who essentially brought Oppenheimer onboard to the Manhattan Project. Interestingly, this is Hartnett’s first time working with Nolan after having reportedly declined the role of Bruce Wayne in Nolan’s Batman Begins (2005) due to scheduling conflicts. And speaking of films that are set in the Second World War, Hartnett also starred in Pearl Harbor. 

Jack Quaid

Making a mark in the industry is quite hard, especially if you’re the child of famous actors like Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan, but Jack Quaid has done pretty well for himself. He has starred in the hit Prime Video series The Boys and appeared in franchises like The Hunger Games, Scream, and Star Trek: Lower Decks. In Oppenheimer, he plays Richard Feynman, one of the most influential theoretical physicists who was present at the Trinity Test.

Gary Oldman

Nolan’s knack for rehiring his previous actors was once again shown in his casting of Gary Oldman as Harry S. Truman, the 33rd president of the United States who infamously takes credit for authorizing the nuclear detonations in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Oldman is known for his iconic roles as Jim Gordon in The Dark Knight trilogy, Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour, and Sirius Black in the Harry Potter series.

Matthew Modine 

Matthew Modine may be most recognized for his role as Dr. Martin Brenner in Netflix’s Stranger Things at the moment, but the actor has actually previously worked with Nolan on The Dark Knight Rises (2012). Modine plays Vannevar Bush, the electrical engineer and inventor who worked closely with Oppenheimer as the head of the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development in World War II. 

Casey Affleck

Casey Affleck plays Boris Pash, the US military colonel who was put in charge of security for the Manhattan Project. Affleck is known for his academy-winning performance in Manchester by the Sea. Being cast in Oppenheimer also reunites Affleck with Matt Damon, whom he’s previously worked with in Good Will Hunting and Nolan’s Interstellar. Affleck is the brother of Ben Affleck, Damon’s longtime friend and collaborator. 

Rami Malek

Rami Malek joins Oppenheimer’s list of Oscar-winning cast members as David Hill, an associate physicist who was probably one of the very few who advocated against the use of nuclear weapons in Japan. Apart from his Academy-winning role as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody, Malek is also known for his roles in Mr. Robot and No Time To Die. 

Kenneth Branagh

Just how many Oscar winners can Nolan fit in one film? Kenneth Branagh plays Niels Bohr, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist who Oppenheimer credits as one of his biggest influencers, referencing Bohr’s work on modulated neutron initiators. Branagh is a recurring face in the Nolan cinematic world, having featured in Dunkirk and Tenet. However, he himself is an established director, having helmed films like Thor and Belfast. He’s also known for directing and starring in Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile.

Gustaf Skarsgård

Gustaf Skarsgård portrays Hans Bethe, a nuclear physicist who was appointed head of the Theoretical Division at Los Alamos Laboratory by Oppenheimer himself. Bethe is one of the most influential figures in the Manhattan Project, even winning a Nobel Prize in 1967 for his work on the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis. Skarsgård, on the other hand, is known for his work in Vikings and Westworld, and for belonging to one of the most prolific acting families from Sweden, of course. 

Benny Safdie

Benny Safdie joins the cast as Edward Teller, one of the theoretical physicists who worked on the Manhattan Project, and is colloquially known as the “father of the hydrogen bomb”. Benny is one half of the Safdie Brothers, known for writing and directing crime thrillers like Good Time and Uncut Gems.

Alden Ehrenreich

Alden Ehrenreich plays Richard Feynman, the theoretical physicist who helps the antagonist Lewis Strauss (played by Robert Downey Jr.) during the hearing against Oppenheimer. Ehrenreich’s most notable work is his portrayal of Han Solo in Solo: A Star Wars Story. 

David Dastmalchian

David Dastmalchian plays William L. Borden, the executive director of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy who sent a letter to the head of the FBI accusing Oppenheimer of being a Soviet spy. Dastmalchian is famous for his many superhero-movie stints, appearing in titles like Ant-Man, The Flash, The Suicide Squad, and The Dark Knight.  

Dane DeHaan

Continuing the superhero pattern is Dane DeHaan, who is known for his role as Harry Osborn opposite Andrew Garfield in The Amazing Spiderman. In Oppenheimer, DeHaan plays Kenneth Nichols, a civil engineer and US Army officer who oversaw the production of plutonium and was later in the security hearing against Oppenheimer. 

James D’Arcy

James D’Arcy, who appeared as Edwin Jarvis in the TV series Agent Carter and in Avengers: Endgame, takes on a more physical role as Patrick Blackett in Oppenheimer. Blackett is portrayed as Oppenheimer’s harsh tutor who he tries to poison by injecting cyanide into an apple. This isn’t the first time D’Arcy has worked with Nolan either, having starred as Colonel Winnant in Dunkirk. 

Matthias Schweighöfer

Best known for his character in Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead franchise, Matthias Schweighöfer appears in Oppenheimer as Werner Heisenberg. Heisenberg was another theoretical physicist who, opposed to many characters in the film, wasn’t involved in the Manhattan Project. Instead, he worked on Nazi Germany’s own nuclear weapons program during the war.