The day Christopher Nolan called Cillian Murphy about his new film, “Oppenheimer,” Murphy hung up the phone in disbelief. The Irish actor, though a regular presence in Nolan films going back almost two decades, has always been a supporting player. This time Nolan wanted him to lead. As Nolan said last week in Las Vegas, “Like it or not J. Robert Oppenheimer is the most important person who ever lived.” As with all Nolan endeavors, secrecy around “Oppenheimer,” which opens on July 21, is vitally important. Murphy says anything he says “will just seem a bit lame as compared to seeing this in an IMAX theater.”
