It seems like every day now there is new casting news for Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, and today is no exception, as Drake & Josh star Josh Peck has been cast in the epic biographical thriller.

Before joining Universal’s Oppenheimer, Peck began his career as a child actor in the late 1990s and early 2000s before finding his breakout role on the hit Nickelodeon sitcom Drake & Josh. Since then, the actor would go on to appear in several movies like Drillbit Taylor, the Red Dawn remake, and Battle of the Year, in addition to starring in Disney Plus’ original series Turner & Hooch, which is based off of the 1989 film of the same name.

Following the more recent casting announcements of Jason Clarke and Michael Angarano, Variety now confirms that Peck will play Kenneth Bainbridge, a scientist who was involved in the Manhattan Project, the codename for America’s efforts to develop atomic weapons during World War II. In addition to Peck’s role, the impressive cast features Cillian Murphy in the lead role as Robert J. Oppenheimer, the main theoretical physicist who contributed to the creation of the atom bomb, Matt Damon as Lieutenant General Leslie Groves, the director of the Manhattan Project, Robert Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss, the chairman of Atomic Energy Commission, Florence Pugh as Communist Party member Jean Tatlock, Emily Blunt as Oppenheimer’s wife, Katherine Oppenheimer Vissering, Benny Safdie as Hungarian Physicist Edward Teller, and Josh Hartnett as nuclear scientist Ernest Lawrence. Rami Malek, Dane DeHaan, Jack Quaid, Matthew Modine, and many more have been cast in undisclosed roles.

Nolan will write the script for the film, which is being adapted from the 2005 Pulitzer Prize winner American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer. It will mark the first time the director is collaborating with Universal Pictures following his departure with Warner Bros. last year. Production on Oppenheimer has been underway now for a few weeks and will likely wrap up sometime this summer.

Coming from a comedic background, it will be interesting to see what Peck can bring to a dramatic role in Oppenheimer, a film filled with some of Hollywood’s greatest talents. While this casting choice may come as surprise, Nolan’s decision to cast popstar Harry Styles in 2017’s Dunkirk shocked many people at first, but once the film was released, audiences were impressed when they witnessed Styles flex his acting chops on the big screen. So, there’s no doubt Peck can do the same in Oppenheimer.

Oppenheimer is set to arrive in theatres on July 21, 2023.

Source: Variety