"I actually negotiated": Oppenheimer star Matt Damon reveals he told his wife he'd take a break from acting unless Christopher Nolan called

The release date for Oppenheimer is drawing closer. It will be released on Friday, July 21, 2023, in theaters worldwide, and the hype around it is unmatched.

In a recent interview with EW, Matt Damon, who plays Leslie Groves in the film, revealed that he made a deal with his wife in order to work with Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan. He said,

"I actually negotiated in couples therapy ­— this is a true story — the one caveat to my taking time off was if Chris Nolan called."

Apart from Matt Damon, the film also stars Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett, Casey Affleck, Rami Malek, Kenneth Branagh, and several others.

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Why did Matt Damon not take a break from acting? Oppenheimer actor reveals

Christopher Nolan is widely regarded as one of the greatest directors of the modern era. Actors feel honored to work on his projects and aren't afraid to hide their feelings. Some of his most popular movies are Memento, Insomnia, The Prestige, The Dark Knight Rises, Interstellar, Dunkirk, etc.

Matt Damon had previously collaborated with Nolan on 2014's Interstellar. While he played an astronaut in the previous film, his role is completely different in the upcoming movie.

Damon revealed in the EW interview that he told his wife Luciana that he was going to take a break from acting until and unless Christopher Nolan approached him for a role. Just as he was preparing to take a break, the director approached him for the epic biographical thriller. He instantly agreed to do the film and thus called off his holiday.

He said,

"This is going to sound made up, but it's actually true. I had — not to get too personal — negotiated extensively with my wife that I was taking time off. I had been in Interstellar, and then Chris put me on ice for a couple of movies, so I wasn't in the rotation.

He continued,

"This is without knowing whether or not he was working on anything, because he never tells you. He just calls you out of the blue. And so, it was a moment in my household."

Matt Damon has worked on two more projects this year apart from the Nolan directorial — Ben Affleck's Air and Ethan Coen's Drive-Away Dolls.

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Oppenheimer synopsis

The official synopsis of the film states,

"Written and directed by Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer is an IMAX®-shot epic thriller that thrusts audiences into the pulse-pounding paradox of the enigmatic man who must risk destroying the world in order to save it. The film stars Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer and Emily Blunt as his wife, biologist and botanist Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer."

It further states,

"The film is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and the late Martin J. Sherwin."

The film is produced by Emma Thomas, Charles Roven, and Christopher Nolan. A combination of IMAX 65mm and 65mm large-format film was used in creating this ambitious project.

Greta Gerwig's Barbie will release alongside it on Friday, July 21, 2023. Both films are speculated to have healthy competition. Barbie stars Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken.