Christopher Nolan On Why Robert Pattinson Is Not Part Of ‘Oppenheimer’ Cast Despite Influencing Film

Christopher Nolan is opening up about how Oppenheimer came about and Robert Pattinson had a lot to do with it.

The Dark Knight trilogy director had worked with Pattinson before in Tenet where they got to talking about Oppenheimer.

“Yeah, Rob, off the back of Tenet, where we refer to Oppenheimer, and I had wrote a thing about this incredible moment that Oppenheimer and the scientist of the Manhattan Project had where they could not completely eliminate the possibility that when they triggered that first gadget, that first atomic device, they might start the chain reaction that would destroy the world,” Nolan said in an interview with journalist Tara Hitchcock.

Nolan continued, “We used that as a metaphor for Tenet, which Rob was in. As a wrap gift, he gave me a book of Oppenheimer‘s speeches from the 1950s, where you’re reading these great intellects trying to deal with the massive consequences of the way in which they’ve changed life forever, for all of us.”

As to why Pattinson is not part of the Oppenheimer film, Nolan says that “he was busy” and “he’s very much in demand these days.”

Pattinson will reprise his role of Bruce Wayne in The Batman sequel and was recently announced to be part of the cast of the serial killer comedy Average Height, Average Build.

The cast of Oppenheimer includes Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett, Casey Affleck, Rami Malek and Kenneth Branagh, among others. Oppenheimer drops in theaters on July 21.

Watch the full interview in the video below.