‘Oppenheimer’ Proves Nolan’s Leading Man Should Have Been This Actor All Along

Christopher Nolan, like many directors, has made several films with the same actors. Oppenheimer and Tenet were a bit of a change as Tenet featured two new leads (John David Washington and Robert Pattinson) and Oppenheimer introduced a sea of new actors to the Nolanverse. But the film is headlined by a Nolan favorite, Cillian Murphy. Murphy has worked with Nolan since 2005’s Batman Begins, with Oppenheimer marking their sixth film together.

Murphy has played Jonathan Crane aka the Scarecrow in all three chapters of Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy. From there, he played Fischer in Inception, the central target of the film’s mind heist, and appeared as a “shivering soldier” in Dunkirk.

The two clearly like working together, as Michael Caine is the only actor to surpass Murphy’s run with Nolan (Caine was in 8 of Nolan’s 12 movies). Still, it is telling that Murphy has played a small part in 6 of the 9 movies that Nolan has done since meeting and working with him. What makes Oppenheimer so special is that Murphy is carrying the entire film on his shoulders.

Oppenheimer marks the first time that Nolan has cast Murphy as a leading man, Unsurprisingly, the film is, in a lot of ways, Nolan’s best work. My own personal favorite remains The Prestige, but what was made very clear by Oppenheimer is that Murphy is a perfect leading man for Christopher Nolan’s world.

Six movies leading to this

Nolan’s leading men have included the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, and more. They all deliver great performances and they all understood what Nolan was trying to achieve with those movies. But there was something completely different in Murphy’s performance that felt like Nolan had been hiding his power. Granted, many of us who love Murphy as a performer knew what he was capable of (watch Peaky Blinders), but seeing it unleashed in this performance was something completely different.

Murphy does a lot in the silent moments of J. Robert Oppenheimer’s journey. While others are lashing out, using their words to fight, so much is reflected in the blue of his eyes. He stares at the ground, contemplating what his monster will do to the world, and you know exactly what he’s thinking. His brief lines with women like Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh) feature her lashing out at him while he quietly listens to her and adapts his response. That same thing happens in his relationship with Kitty (Emily Blunt).

Murphy’s quiet yet intense performance shows just how much Nolan trusted him with this role. But it also showed me that this was a long time coming, and now I expect Murphy to continue to shine in bigger roles in Nolan’s projects. I hope the smaller roles are gone and we continue to see how their work together can grow because it’s so good.

It’s Cillian Murphy’s time

Many a millennial remembers the summer of 2005. It was when many of us (who didn’t already know him) met Cillian Murphy. He stared in Nolan’s Batman Begins and then went on to terrify us in Red Eye opposite Rachel McAdams. From there, he became someone to watch. Seeing his slow growth in popularity has been amazing, but I hope that Oppenheimer opens a new door in his career because he’s such a dynamic performer to watch.

Yes, I already think he’s going to be on the awards season radar. Especially given how much of this film is on his shoulders. I just hope that it isn’t the end of his collaboration with Nolan, and I hope that it doesn’t mean he’s going to go back to smaller roles in Nolan’s projects either. He deserves to shine like he did in Oppenheimer, and I can’t wait to see what they have planned next.

(featured image: Universal Pictures)