Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. two of the greatest actors of all time, says Christopher Nolan

Director Christopher Nolan has named Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. as two of the greatest actors of all time in an interview promoting his upcoming movie Oppenheimer.

The movie centres on the titular theoretical physicist who is considered to be the "father of the atomic bomb" for his contributions developing the first nuclear weapons that would then be used to devastate Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. In Nolan's filmography, Murphy has appeared in secondary roles such as Dr Jonathan Crane in his Batman trilogy, Robert Fischer in Inception, and the unnamed soldier in Dunkirk.

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In an interview with Total Film (via Unilad), Nolan commended Murphy's exceptional presence and his storied career, adding that he had always intended to cast the actor in a leading role in one of his movies due to that undeniable talent. "I’ve always known since I first met him - however many years ago it is now, almost 20 years - that he is one of the great actors, not just of his generation, but of all time," said the director. "And I’ve been waiting for the project, and I know he has too, where we can collaborate with him as the lead, and I could put the most enormous weight - cinematic weight - on his shoulders, and watch him carry that burden."

While Murphy plays Oppenheimer, Robert Downey Jr. is portraying Lewis Strauss. He was the then-chairman of the US Atomic Energy Commission and notoriously had a huge number of issues with the physicist, including Oppenheimer's humiliation of him in a public hearing, Oppenheimer potentially being a Soviet spy, and eventually stripping him of his security clearance while working as an atomic weapons consultant.

"We all know that Robert Downey Jr. is one of the great movie stars. It’s so easy to forget that he’s also one of the greatest actors of all time," continued Nolan. "Watching him lose himself in that performance, and completely lose himself in a character in this way, was just an incredible reminder of just what an amazing actor he is."