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Due to the SAG-AFTRA actors’ strike, we didn’t get to see many behind-the-scenes tidbits from the biggest blockbusters on the 2023 movie schedule, including Christopher Nolan‘s Oppenheimer. However, now that the long, historic labor battle officially came to an end earlier this November, cinema fans are graciously getting some social-media goodies from movie casts, and that includes us learning what how Robert Downey Jr. refers to his Oppenheimer cohorts.
Downey offered up just that with a recent reunion snap featuring his so-called “Oppenhomies” Cillian Murphy and Emily Blunt, which he posted on Instagram on Tuesday, November 21, and I love it so much.
RDJ’s Instagram carousel featured several photos of the Iron Man superstar alongside his co-stars,. They were taken during a cast Q&A and screening of Oppenheimer at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Los Angeles. Oppenheimer chronicles the life and work of theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer (played by Murphy), specifically his role in the creation of the atomic bomb.
It was during another recent Q&A portion, this one at the same theater a day earlier, that it was revealed that some of the Oppenheimer cast—which also includes Matt Damon, Florence Pugh and Josh Hartnett, among many others—have a WhatsApp group chat called the “Oppenhomies,” hence Downey’s caption.
The chumminess between the co-stars is sweet to see, especially given how antagonistic the relationship between Murphy’s Oppenheimer and Downey’s Lewis Strauss plays out onscreen. As you might remember, Strauss was one of the original members of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, served as the commission’s chairman. His alleged jealousy and resentment of the real-life Oppenheimer led to him prompting an FBI security hearing on the physicist.
Despite that conflict onscreen, Downey has been downright effusive about his co-star’s performance, calling Cillian Murphy’s commitment to the work the greatest “sacrifice by a lead actor in my career,” per an interview with People:
I have never witnessed a greater sacrifice by a lead actor in my career. He knew it was going to be a behemoth ask when Chris called him. But I think he also had the humility that is required to survive playing a role like this. We’d be like, ‘Hey, we got a three-day weekend. Maybe we’ll go antiquing in Santa Fe. What are you going to do?’ ‘Oh, I have to learn 30,000 words of Dutch. Have a nice time.’ But that’s the nature of the ask.
The day Downey’s Instagram post was posted also marked the day that Oppenheimer became available on digital and 4K Blu-ray with three hours of special features. As for when it will become available to stream with a Peacock subscription, that remains to be seen. However, if Nolan had his way, the historical drama would seemingly eschew streaming entirely, as the filmmaker recently called out “evil streaming” services while attending an Oppenheimer screening in Los Angeles.
Though the first collaboration between Robert Downey Jr. and Christopher Nolan, the biopic marks the sixth partnership between the director and lead Cillian Murphy, who also featured in Nolan’s Batman trilogy as well as Inception and Dunkirk. Keep checking back with CinemaBlend for more Oppenheimer-related stories.