christopher nolans oppenheimer is one of the most hotly anticipated films of next year so its fitting that its on the cover of total films upcoming 2023 preview issuethe film stars cillian murphy as a j robert oppenheimer the theoretical physicist who oversaw the design of the first nuclear weapons during world war 2 the director of the manhattan projects los alamos laboratory oppenheimer would go on to feel conflicted about the power that he unleashed and his postwar years were dogged by investigations into his earlier communist party associationsmurphy has collaborated with nolan on five previous occasions the dark knight trilogy inception dunkirk but this is the first time he has stepped into the lead role hes surrounded by a truly astonishing ensemble including emily blunt as roberts wife kitty plus matt damon florence pugh rami malek kenneth branagh and gary oldman robert downey jr plays lewis strauss chairman of the us atomic enemy commission who would later clash bitterly with oppenheimernolan introduces the film which is based on kai bird and martin j sherwins book american prometheus in the new issue of total film and here you can see six exclusive images from the film above you can see murphy as oppie at a hearing while below there are new stills featuring murphy blunt and downey jr as well as behindthescenes shots featuring murphy nolan and cinematographer hoyte van hoytema who has worked on every nolan film since interstellarcheck them out in full belowimage credit universalimage credit universalimage credit universalimage credit universalimage credit universalorder a copy of the oppenheimer issue of total film magazine hereoppenheimer opens in cinemas on july 21 2023 inside the new issue of total film which is on sale thursday december 15 nolan talks in detail about oppenheimer which he describes as a story of immense scope and scale from casting murphy and rdj to the groundbreaking use of largeformat blackandwhite film to the cinematic appeal of oppenheimer its a thorough primer on a historical biopic like no othertotal films oppenheimer coverage kicks off a huge 2023 preview looking ahead to the biggest films of the coming year and the print version of this new issue comes with a special 52page supplement counting down the best films mustsee moments and breakout stars of 2022image credit universalsyncopytotal filmand if youre a fan of total film why not subscribe so that you never miss an issue you get the magazine and any special supplements delivered to your door before its in shops and youll save money on the cover price plus with our current subscription offer you can get a free pair of earfun air wireless earbuds worth 55 what are you waiting for subscribe now at magazines direct ts and cs applyimage credit total filmuniversal