Christopher Nolan planning movie about the man who developed the atom bomb

Christopher Nolan is planning his next movie and, like 2017's Dunkirk, it's another World War 2 story, Deadline reports. 

The currently untitled project will focus on J. Robert Oppenheimer, the man who developed the atom bomb. Oppenheimer was an American theoretical physicist and head of the secret Los Alamos Laboratory during the war. He was heavily involved with the Manhattan Project, which is credited with developing the first nuclear weapons used to bomb the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. 

According to Deadline, Cillian Murphy is rumored to be in talks to star – he's a frequent collaborator with the director, having appeared in the Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, and Dunkirk. However, it is unclear whether he would play Oppenheimer or another character. 

All of Nolan's recent movies (in fact, every single one of them since 2002's Insomnia) have been released with Warner Bros., but the filmmaker is reportedly speaking to several major studios about his next project.

The director's last movie was 2020's Tenet, starring John David Washington and Robert Pattinson, which he was adamant would get a theatrical run despite being released during the COVID-19 pandemic when many cinemas were closed. Nolan was also very vocal about his opposition to Warner Bros.' decision to release its 2021 slate of films simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max. 

While we wait for Nolan's next project to arrive on the big screen, check out our list of all the upcoming movies to get excited about in 2021 and beyond.