Nolan's 'Oppenheimer' teaser unveiled exclusively

WASHINGTON: The official first trailer for Christopher Nolan's 'Oppenheimer' has debuted exclusively in movie theatres, attached to shows of Jordan Peele's 'Nope'.

The movie stars Cillian Murphy as theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, the director of the Manhattan Project and the "father of the atomic bomb."

According to Variety, at the start of the teaser, Emily Blunt as Oppenheimer's wife, Katherine, says, "The world is changing, reforming. This is your moment." A countdown appears on screen: "11 months, 24 days, 15 hours, 29 minutes." Nolan loves a ticking-clock structure, and it appears he's again embracing one as the film counts down toward the day "the world changes forever," as the film's tagline reads on the poster and in the teaser.

As the title appears on screen Robert Downey Jr's character is heard referring to Oppenheimer, "The man who moved the earth." Footage of fire and smoke are intercut between black-and-white shots of Murphy as Oppenheimer, reported Variety. Nolan has assembled an all-star cast for 'Oppenheimer'.

Joining Murphy, Blunt and Downey Jr. are Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, Rami Malek, Benny Safdie, Josh Hartnett, Dane DeHaan, Jack Quaid, Matthew Modine, Alden Ehrenreich, David Krumholtz, Michael Angarano and Kenneth Branagh.

The filmmaker previously did a similar theatrical-only release in August 2019 for the 'Tenet' teaser, which played in front of 'Hobbs & Shaw' screenings.

Nolan wrote the script for 'Oppenheimer' and is directing, while his creative partner and wife, Emma Thomas, is producing with Charles Roven of Atlas Entertainment.

Earlier, on Thursday, he unveiled the film's first poster which showed Murphy as Oppenheimer, taking a walk in the cloud of fire and smoke.

The project, which is set to release on July 21, 2023, is based on 'American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer' by Kai Bird and the late Martin J. Sherwin. Published in 2005, the book won the Pulitzer Prize.