After having kick-started production on Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer in New Mexico last month, the star-studded cast and crew have now commenced in Los Angeles.
Josh Hartnett, Josh Peck and Matthew Modine were among the high-profile names to be seen in character on the set of the World War II epic.
Based on J. Robert Oppenheimer, the American theoretical physicist who, along with his colleagues in the Manhattan Project, are credited with developing the first atomic bombs that ultimately were dropped on Japan in 1945.
Preparing for action: Josh Hartnett, 43, looked the part of American nuclear physicist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1939
Epic endeavor: Josh Peck, 35, and Matthew Modine, 63, were among the first of the star-studded cast to be seen in character on the set of Oppenheimer
All three of the actors – Hartnett, Peck and Modine – looked like exact replicas, in terms of their retro costumes, dressed in grayish wool slacks, matching vest and tie, and white dress shirts.
Hartnet, 43, also wore a pair of brown leather shoes, reminiscent of the times just before the Second World War, wire-rim glasses, and his dark brown hair cut short with a part on the right.
Peck, 35, looked to be catching up on some phone calls in between scenes.
And from the look of the big beaming smile on his face, the shoot looked to be going well for Modine, who was dressed in a wool suit, minus the blazer, that was popular during the 1940s.
Suited up: Cillian Murphy, 45, was dressed in character as J. Robert Oppenheimer
Filming:Matt Damon looked the part of Lieutenant General Leslie Richard Groves Jr., sporting a mustache and decked out in his military uniform, as he was preparing behind-the-scenes
Hartnett portrays Ernest Lawrence, who’s among the scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project,
The pioneering American nuclear physicist won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1939 for his invention of the cyclotron, which is a particle accelerator.
Lawrence would go on to be recognized for his work on uranium-isotope separation for the Manhattan Project.
Peck plays American physicist Kenneth Bainbridge, the director of the Manhattan Project’s Trinity nuclear test during the development of the first atomic weapons.
So far details with regard to the character Modine is playing have not been disclosed.
On set: DeHaan, 36, has also been seen on set in recent days in a U.S. Army uniform
Just in the last week, Cillian Murphy, Matt Damon, Dane DeHaan and Casey Affleck were seen on set in full costumes.
Murphy, 45, who portrays the tile role of J. Robert Oppenheimer, was spotted shooting a scene for the film, while Damon, 51, looked the part of Lieutenant General Leslie Richard Groves Jr., sporting a mustache and decked out in his military uniform, as he was preparing behind-the-scenes.
Similarly, DeHaan, 36, wore a U.S. Army uniform as he walked around the set, seemingly getting psyched up to film his next scene.
The stellar cast also includes Emily Blunt (Katherine ‘Kitty’ Oppenheimer), Robert Downey Jr. (Lewis Strauss), Florence Pugh (Jean Tatlock), Rami Malek, Benny Safdie (Edwar Saldie), Jack Quaid, Kenneth Branagh, Jason Clarke, Oliivia Thirby and Gary Oldma, among others.
The film was adapted from the 2006 book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and the late Martin J. Sherwin. Kai’s book charts Oppenheimer’s life from his development of the atomic bomb as the head of the Manhattan Project.
First look: In February, Universal Pictures released a moody first look at Cillian Murphy, 45, as J. Robert Oppenheimer in the biopic
Shortly after the bombs were detonated in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, Oppenheimer began to lobby for the control of nuclear weapons to avert a nuclear war with Russia.
He was appointed the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission though he was also a target of the House Un-American Activities Commission as well.
Oppenheimer passed away in 1967 at 62 years of age from throat cancer after years of smoking cigarettes.
Having started production in late February, Nolan is expected to take more than five months to shoot, which if he keeps on schedule it would go until the beginning of August.
Oppenheimer is the first film to shoot in IMAX black-and-white analog photography, although its not known whether it will be done entirely in black and white
Universal Pictures has set a July 21, 2023 release date for Oppenheimer.
The current debut date is slated to come about two weeks before the harrowing anniversaries of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which happened on August 6 and August 9 in 1945.
Acclaimed director Christopher Nolan (left) is directing the epic story; best known for helming such films as Memento, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Interstellar and Dunkirk, the British filmmaker is seen shooting in Princeton, New jersey on April 13
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