evidence: Though he’s worked with writer-director Christopher Nolan for over two decades, Cillian Murphy steps into his largest studio lead role to date in Nolan’s upcoming biopic, Oppenheimer. Starring as J. Robert Oppenheimer, the man appointed to head the top-secret labs for the Manhattan Project, Murphy discusses with Collider’s Steve Weintraub the preparation for this role and what it was like to "experiment and explore" on set with Nolan. [...] MURPHY: I think any actor in the world would, first of all, want to work with Chris, but second of all, do a lead for him. I can’t think of any better word than it’s a dream. It sounds like such a cliché, but it’s the truth. But I had no idea he was going to call me. He just called me out of the blue. That’s his MO; you never hear from him and then he calls. [Laughs] So he called me, and I genuinely didn’t know what it would be, and then he said, "I’m making this movie about Oppenheimer and I would like you to play Oppenheimer." It’s a big shock, and a very pleasant one, but then you kind of go, "Okay, now I have a lot of work to do."