Cillian Murphy Was Chosen To Play Oppenheimer Almost A Decade Before Christopher Nolan, Here’s What Happened To The Project That Got Bombed!

Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is performing exceptionally well at the global box-office, and Cillian Murphy is being hailed as the man of the moment. While the fans are showering praises on the actor for successfully taking on the role of J Robert Oppenheimer, very few know that Cillian was also considered for the same role for a TV show on the Manhattan Project. Scroll down to know what really happened.

Oppenheimer, speaking of the worldwide box-office collection, has, so far, minted more than $220 million. Apart from Cillian, the movie also stars a stellar star cast with Florence Pugh, Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., and Kenneth Branagh.

Speaking of Cillian Murphy, as per the Insider, the actor was earlier considered for the role of Oppenheimer for a short-lived TV series called Manhattan which unfortunately ran for two seasons on the now-defunct network WGN America. The series was based on the creation of the atomic bomb in Los Alamos, New Mexico, and it ran from 2014 to 2015. The show makers Sam Shaw and his wife, Lila Byock, as per the publication, in an interview, recalled how Cillian Murphy was on the list when the auditions were on to find the role of J Oppenheimer. “We wanted Oppenheimer to feel both like he possessed a certain undeniable charisma, a presence onstage, but also that he was playing a different instrument. He needed to feel alien or other in some ways,” said Shaw adding, “A thousand percent, Cillian Murphy was on that list.”

Lila Byock, on the other hand, shared, “There were actually some rock stars we considered” revealing they looked beyond actors for the role. She further stated, “David Bowie was not available.” The role ultimately went to Daniel London, whom we better know from his role in Minority Report.

While Cillian Murphy did not score the role of Oppenheimer then, he finally did justice to it in Christopher Nolan’s movie.

Recalling why he wanted Cillian for the role, Nolan, in one of his earlier interviews, shared, “Cillian Murphy is one of the great actors of his generation. And I was very fortunate to start working with him early in his career.”

He added, “I wanted an actor who could carry the audience with him so that you see the events of Oppenheimer’s life through his eyes and rather than sort of judging him, you’re kind of experiencing things with him. And Cillian has that incredible empathetic ability, that ability to just draw an audience into what he’s thinking and feeling the way all the great stars do.”

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