Christopher Nolan says Robert Pattinson was 'too busy' to star in 'Oppenheimer'

Christopher Nolan discussed why Robert Pattinson was not cast in his soon-to-be-released film Oppenheimer, claiming he was "too busy" to do his project.

The Academy Award nominated filmmaker said while chatting with journalist Tara Hitchcock that the Remember Me star was the one who led him to make a film about physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer.

The acclaimed director also dished upon why he did not cast Pattinson, who starred in his film Tenet in the lead role.

The Dark Knight trilogy director began, “Yeah, Rob, off the back of Tenet, where we refer to Oppenheimer, and I had wrote a thing about this incredible moment that Oppenheimer and the scientist of the Manhattan Project had where they could not completely eliminate the possibility that when they triggered that first gadget, that first atomic device, they might start the chain reaction that would destroy the world.”

“We used that as a metaphor for Tenet, which Rob was in,” the Oscar-nominated director continued, “As a wrap gift, he gave me a book of Oppenheimer‘s speeches from the 1950s, where you’re reading these great intellects trying to deal with the massive consequences of the way in which they’ve changed life forever, for all of us.”

As to why he chose Murphy instead of Pattinson in the film, Nolan said he “was busy,” adding, “he’s very much in demand these days.”

Apart from Murphy, the star studded cast of Oppenheimer also includes Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett, Casey Affleck, Rami Malek and Kenneth Branagh. The film is set to be released on July 21.