Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer Adds The Suicide Squad's David Dastmalchian
Christopher Nolan continues to add new cast members to his upcoming film Oppenheimer, about the creator of the atomic bomb, and this time he's reuniting with a former collaborator. The Hollywood Reporter brings word that David Dastmalchian, best known to film fans currently as Polka-Dot Man from The Suicide Squad, will appear in the movie in what the trade calls a "secret" role. As fans may recall, Dastmalchian previously appeared in Christopher Nolan's landmark Batman movie The Dark Knight, playing a Joker thug interrogated by Batman and Harvey Dent. The role also marked Dastmalchian's first appearance on the big screen.
The actor joins a regular Who's who of Hollywood in the feature film which includes fellow Batman alum Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer, with Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Benny Safdie, Rami Malek, David Krumholtz, Alden Ehrenreich, Jack Quaid, and Dane DeHaan, plus other Christopher Nolan regulars Kenneth Branagh (Dunkirk, Tenet), Matthew Modine (The Dark Knight Rises), and Matt Damon (Interstellar) all set to appear. Production on the film began this week. Universal Pictures will be Nolan's partner on the film, marking his first time to not work with Warner Bros. in over twenty years.
As Nolan fans may recall, the director butted heads with Warner Bros. after the botched release of his movie Tenet and the studio's plunge into the streaming world when it put all of its 2021 feature film slate on HBO Max the same day that they opened in theaters. The Oscar-nominated filmmaker put his next film up to the highest bidder. WB remained in contention to produce but Universal, Apple, Paramount, and Sony were all in discussions with the filmmaker to take his next film as well.
After Universal nabbed the rights to produce and release the movie though reports popped up revealing what Nolan's demands for any of his studio partners would have been. In addition to total creative control on the film, THR previously reported that Nolan asked for a $100 million budget with an equal amount to be spent on the marketing, 20% of the first-dollar gross, a guaranteed theatrical window of 100 days, and reportedly a "blackout period" where the studio wouldn't release any other movies in the three weeks preceding and after Oppenheimer's release. It was a tall order, but considering the huge box office that Nolan's movies bring in, not to mention critical acclaim and accolades, it's one that very few others could command.
Set to be shot in IMAX, Oppenheimer will premiere in North American theaters on July 21, 2023.