Robert Downey Jr. on Why He Chose ‘Oppenheimer’ After MCU (Exclusive)

Robert Downey Jr. and Cillian Murphy are teaming up for the true story about the atomic bomb used to end World War II in director Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer.”

They sat down with “Extra’s” Melvin Robert to talk about the movie, in which Cillian plays J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the first nuclear weapon and head of the notorious Manhattan Project.

Downey Jr., who plays Lewis Strauss, also spoke about why he chose this film after bidding farewell to the MCU and Iron Man.

Melvin asked, “Were you familiar with J. Robert Oppenheimer before signing on to do this project?”

Cillian replied, “No, I had kind of like a Wikipedia-level knowledge of the events.”

Downey Jr. added, “I fancy myself a bit of a student of this period in time. I thought it was great the way that Chris chose expertly to cast this guy,” referring to Cillian.

Murphy worked with Nolan on past films like “Batman Begins” and “Inception,” and RDJ commented, “It’s literally a generation-defining performance, and it’s crazy, too, that you took all those other swings at doing projects with him and they all kind of come together in this one big partnership.”

Mel pointed out that Chris has referred to J. Robert Oppenheimer as “the most important person who ever lived.”

Cillian pointed out, “It’s a good tagline, isn’t it?”

He continued, “I think what happened in ‘45 completely changed history, completely changed the world, and we live in the shadow of what happened in ’45, whether people choose to think about it or not. So I think in those terms, for sure. For sure.”

Robert and Cillian’s characters have a complex relationship in the film. Downey Jr. recalled, “Chris talked about [Wolfgang] Mozart and [Antonio] Salieri, and I think that was a great shorthand, and even just by the time I was on set, seeing how Cillian had embodied this character to the point where you go, ‘I feel like I’m practically with the guy.’ You can’t help but feel a little bit iced out by it.”

He insisted, “Now Cillian is so warm and nice and inviting, but then we’d roll and I’d feel like he was looking through me like I didn’t exist. And I was like, ‘That sucks.’ And I can only imagine it was a lot of people who felt that way. Lewis Strauss was in a position to do something about it. I don’t know how culpable he was for that, but it is a story about how small imagined slights between important people can have big impacts.”

Murphy agreed, “Yeah. And that’s the beauty of the story, this tiny story in one way between these two men and then this ginormous story about life and death, really.”

Melvin brought up that this was not meant to a history lesson for the audience. Cillian said, “No, no, but I do think it may provoke people to go and read about this if they so wish… It’s entertaining and thrilling, but I do think it will be very thought-provoking as well.”

Murphy added, “I think it asks the biggest, hugest, most complex kind of questions. The most profound kind of ethical and moral questions, but at the same time it is so thrilling… It has so many different components to it that is entertaining in so many different ways, and again, challenging. What I love about these films, the sorts of films Chris makes, is that he presupposes that the audiences are smart, which they are. And he’s done that all the way through his films.”

Robert shared, “I would say, too, that, look, we’ve been in this really odd thousand days of wondering what even the future of entertainment was gonna be, and this is a definitive statement that cinema is moving forward while staying connected to its roots. And there’s a purist element to this, but it is also every bit as cool and fun a ride as any genre movie you’re gonna see this summer for sure.”

This movie also marks the first for Downey Jr. since he hung up his Iron Man suit.

Melvin said, “I was reading too that you were discerning about what your next role might be… And you kind of gave yourself like a year or so of downtime with your family. But this really caught your eye.”

Robert replied, “Yeah, it just, it scared me,” telling Cillian, “Nowhere near as much as I’m sure when you first read this thing and go, ‘Oh, my God, I have to do this whole thing because Chris just called.’ But anyway, I got to experience it, and it was also nice to have the pressure off. Let this guy do the heavy lifting.”

Murphy insisted, “That’s not true,” and Downey Jr. told him, “Oh, yeah? I’d come in like, ‘I had four days off. I was just kind of, you know, antiquing around Santa Fe. What have you been up to?’ And he’d be like, ‘You want to run the lines?’”

Melvin had to ask, “Are you an antique guy?” RDJ told him, “Love it,” explaining how he knows if he’s found something good, “You feel like you need it.”

Cillian quipped, “I didn’t antique. I didn’t do antiquing. I didn’t even know it was a verb actually.”

Did RDJ at least bring Murphy a gift? Robert answered, “Uh, it’s a… it’s still being created.”