Oppenheimer star almost played the same role 10 years ago

While Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer absolutely took the box office by storm, he's not the only Hollywood director to attempt to tell the story of the birth of the atomic bomb.

The American TV series Manhattan aired for two seasons between 2014 and 2015, telling a fictional story that took place at the Los Alamos Laboratory, where the United States tested and manufactured nuclear weapons. Although the show mainly features fictional characters and does not attempt to tell an epic, some real people from the Manhattan Project do appear, and J. Robert Oppenheimer is inevitably one of them.

When casting was underway, several names were on the shortlist, including the famous actor who played the role in the Oppenheimer movie. "One thousand percent, Cillian Murphy was on that list," producer Sam Shaw recently told Vanity Fair in an interview.

He also said musicians Beck, David Bowie and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear's Diner) were also considered. "We wanted Oppenheimer to feel like he had this undeniable charisma, this stage presence, but at the same time he was different," he explained.

“He needs to be strange or distant in some way. He stands out from the crowd.”

Ultimately, the role went to "The Heart" actor Daniel London.

The good news is that Cillian Murphy finally got to play this famous historical figure in Nolan's film, and his performance has already sparked discussions about whether he will receive an Oscar nomination and award.

Murphy and Nolan have collaborated many times before, including "Dunkirk" and "Batman: The Dark Knight Trilogy". This is his first time to play the leading role in a Nolan movie.