‘Oppenheimer’ Enlists ‘Vikings’ Actor Gustaf Skarsgard (Exclusive)

The sprawling cast of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer can count one more among its ranks. Gustaf Skarsgard has landed a role in the biopic of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, one of the fathers of the atomic bomb.

The Swedish actor will play Hans Bethe, a German-American nuclear physicist who won the 1967 Nobel Prize in physics and was tasked by Oppenheimer to head up the T (Theoretical) division of the Manhattan Project.

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Skarsgard played Floki in the History Channel drama Vikings and also had a role in HBO’s Westworld, which was co-created by Nolan’s brother, Jonathan Nolan, and sister-in-law, Lisa Joy. The actor was nominated earlier this year for a Golden Bug, which is Sweden’s top film award, for The Emigrants. Other credits include the Oscar-nominated adventure drama Kon-Tiki. He has wrapped production on the psychological crime drama What Remains, which also stars his father, Stellan Skarsgard, and Andrea Riseborough.

Cillian Murphy leads Oppenheimer as the famed physicist. The call-sheet also includes Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Rami Malek, Kenneth Branagh, Benny Safdie, Josh Hartnett, Dane DeHaan, Jack Quaid, Matthew Modine, Alden Ehrenreich, David Krumholtz, David Dastmalchian and David Rysdahl.

Oppenheimer is based on Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin’s 2005 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer. Universal has dated the project for July 21, 2023.

Skarsgard is represented by MGMT. Entertainment, the Gersh Agency and Agentfirman.

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