Christopher Nolan has roped in actor Cillian Murphy to play the lead role of American physicist J Robert Oppenheimer in his upcoming historical epic, Oppenheimer.

The film will focus on the life of the physicist whose role in running the Los Alamos Laboratory and involvement in the Manhattan Project has led him to be called the 'father of the atomic bomb.'

Universal Pictures is producing the project, which marks Murphy and Nolan's fourth collaboration after Batman Begins, Inception and Dunkirk.

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

The film is written by Nolan and he also produces along with Emma Thomas and Atlas Entertainment's Charles Roven.

Like Nolan's all previous films, the upcoming project will also be shot with IMAX cameras. Production will begin in early 2022.

Universal Pictures will distribute Oppenheimer theatrically worldwide and will release the film in North American theatres on July 21, 2023.