Oppenheimer: The 21 cameos you missed, from Marvel stars to child actors and Oscar winners
Child actors and British soap stars, Christopher Nolan’s film has it all
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Your support makes all the difference.By now, everyone knows just how many famous faces are in Barbie – but what about Oppenheimer?
The two blockbusters went head-to-head at the box office when they were released on Friday (21 July).
While Greta Gerwig’s bubblegum pink vision stormed ahead of Christopher Nolan’s historical epic in terms of opening weekend earnings, Oppenheimer has inched past Barbie to achieve a near-perfect score on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.
In the film, Cillian Murphy plays physicist J Robert Oppenheimer, as he leads the US efforts to build the first-ever atomic bomb. Florence Pugh, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr, and Matt Damon round out the core cast, playing Jean Tatlock, Kitty Oppenheimer, Lewis Strauss, and Leslie Groves, respectively.
While the premise of Oppenheimer and Barbie couldn’t be more different, they do happen to share one element: a very, very long list of starry cameos.
From Rob Brydon and Ncuti Gatwa to Hari Nef and Dua Lipa, Barbie’s ensemble cast is impossible to miss – but many of the cameos in Oppenheimer are far more subtle.
Here’s every guest appearance that you might have missed…
1. Alden Ehrenreich as a Senate aide
Best known for films including Blue Jasmine, Solo: A Star Wars Story and Beautiful Creatures, Ehrenreich plays a senate aide helping out Lewis Strauss (played by Robert Downey Jr).
2. Alex Wolff as Luis Walter Alvarez
The breakout star of Ari Aster’s Hereditary and M Night Shyamlan’s Old leaves behind the supernatural for a different kind of horror in Oppenheimer. He plays one of many Nobel Prize physicists to grace the screen.
3. Benny Safdie as Edward Teller
One-half of the directing duo the Safdie Brothers (the pair behind Uncut Gems and Good Time), Benny steps out from behind the camera to potray the Hungarian physicist best known as the “so-called father of the hydrogen bomb”.
4. Casey Affleck as Boris Pash
The Oscar-winner – best known for films including Manchester By the Sea and A Ghost Story – makes a memorable appearance as the deceivingly calm intelligence officer Pash, who shares one tense scene with Murphy’s Oppenheimer.
5. Dane DeHaan as Kenneth Nichols
The Spider-Man villain plays Major General Kenneth Nichols, who helps oversee security in the Manhattan project.
6. David Dastmalchian as William L Borden
Dastmalchian – best known for films such as The Dark Knight, The Suicide Squad, and Dune – plays US lawyer and congressional staffer William L Borden, who served as the executive director of the US Congress Joint Committee on Atomic Energy from 1949 and 1953.
7. David Krumholtz as Isidor Isaac Rabi
Fans of Nineties romcoms will recognise Krumholtz from 10 Things I Hate About You, in which he played the best friend to Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character. Here, the actor portrays a Nobel Prize-winning physicist.
8. Gary Oldman as Harry S Truman
Oldman has a penchant for portraying world leaders around wartime. Here, the Darkest Hour Oscar-winner crops up as none other than President Truman – bow tie included.
9. Gustaf Skarsgard as Hans Bethe
Of course, there’s got to be one Skarsgard brother in the mix. The Swedish actor – best known for his roles in Vikings and Westworld (the latter co-created by Nolan’s brother, Jonathan) – plays Hans Bethe, a German-American nuclear physicist who heads up the T (Theoretical) divison of the Manhattan Project.
10. Guy Burnet as George Eltenton
Hollyoaks fans were shocked to see familiar face Guy Burnet on screen. Burnet is best known for his role as Craig on the Channel 4 soap.
11. James D’Arcy as Patrick Blackett
The Marvel star is no stranger to Christopher Nolan films, having previously starred in the director’s 2017 war film Dunkirk. Here, he plays Oppenheimer’s supervisor and teacher Patrick Blackett – another Nobel Prize-winning physicist.
12. Jack Quaid as Richard Feynman
Playing yet another scientist is The Boys star Jack Quaid who is also known for his roles in films such as The Hunger Games and Logan Lucky.
13. Jason Clarke as Roger Robb
Zero Dark Thirty star Jason Clarke plays a formbidable and relentless prosecutor in the counsel hearing against Oppenheimer.
14. Josh Peck as Kenneth Bainbridge
The actor, now 36, rose to fame as a child star starring opposite Drake Bell and Miranda Cosgrove in Nickelodeon’s Drake & Josh. All grown up, Peck plays yet another scientist and contributor to the Manhattan Project.
15. Josh Hartnett as Ernest Lawrence
The Pearl Harbor star has a more substantial role than most of the actors on this list. He plays Ernest Lawrence, a nuclear physcicist and Nobel Prize-winner who worked on the Manhattan Project with Oppenheimer.
16. Matthew Modine as Vannevar Bush
Modine is probably one of the most recognisable faces on this list, having recently starred in Netflix smash-hit Stranger Things. Here, he plays American engineer Vannevar Bush.
17. Matthias Schweighöfer as Werner Heisenberg
Army of the Dead star Schwighöfer appears in Oppenheimer as German theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg – of course, also a Nobel Prize winner. In the film, Oppenheimer tells the US army officials that he believes Werner’s knowledge will be instrumental to the Nazis making their own atomic bomb.
18. Michael Angarano as Robert Serber
As physicist Robert Serber, Angarano has minimal screentime – but the actor will be familiar to viewers as Jack’s son Elliott from Will & Grace and his roles inThis Is Us and the 2005 children’s film Sky High.
19. Olivia Thirlby as Lilli Hornig
Thirlby stands out instantly when she appears on screen as Lilli Hornig – and not just because she’s the only woman working on the Manhattan Project. The actor is known for her roles in Juno and The Darkest Hour.
20. Rami Malek as David Hill
Oscar-winner Rami Malek makes an appearance as fellow scientist David Hill. The actor is best known for his roles in No Time To Die, Mr Robot, and of course, Bohemian Rhapsody.
21. Scott Grimes as a counsellor
Viewers can spot Grimes sitting on the counsel during the hearing against Oppenheimer. If you don’t recognise him by his face – as seen in ER, Party of Five, and Band of Brothers – you may recognise him as the voice of Steve Smith on the adult animation American Dad!.
You can read The Independent’s five-star review of Barbie here, and four-star review of Oppenheimer here.
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