Christopher Nolan's 'Oppenheimer' trailer is all Cillian Murphy and doom

"Theory will only get you so far."
 By 
Caitlin Welsh
 on 
A man looks concerned, touching his fingertips to his face.
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"They won't fear it until they understand it. And they won't understand it until they've used it."

Cillian Murphy stars as J. Robert Oppenheimer, the theoretical physicist often called the "father" of the atomic bomb, in Christopher Nolan's first biopic, Oppenheimer — and despite its absolutely stacked cast, this first trailer puts Murphy front and center. Shots of Murphy's horrified Oppenheimer, murmuring ominously about the unprecedented power he's helped bring into the world, are intercut with abstract slow-motion explosions, swirling particles, and various terrifying orbs and looming structures.

"I don't know if we can be trusted with such a weapon," he whispers. No spoilers, but let's just say he was famously a fairly smart guy.

Oppenheimer also stars Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, and Robert Downey Jr., none of whom appear in this trailer. The film opens in theaters July 21, 2023.

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Caitlin Welsh

Caitlin is Mashable's Australian Editor. She has written for The Guardian, Junkee, and any number of plucky little music and culture publications that were run on the smell of an oily rag and have since been flushed off the Internet like a dead goldfish by their new owners. She also worked at Choice, Australia's consumer advocacy non-profit and magazine, and as such has surprisingly strong opinions about whitegoods. She enjoys big dumb action movies, big clever action movies, cult Canadian comedies set in small towns, Carly Rae Jepsen, The Replacements, smoky mezcal, revenge bedtime procrastination, and being left the hell alone when she's reading.


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