Everyone knows a That Guy when they see them in a movie. It’s the actor — or actress — that automatically triggers a “oh hey, I know them” from the viewer. They are generally recognizable, but not always A-list, and most of the time you kind of remember the name. It’s the actor that you realize has been in five of your favorite shows or movies in a role that was small, but pivotal.
In Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, there is a plentiful bounty of Those Guys.
MORE: A smiling Oppenheimer meme shows what he’d look like if he invented something else
While stars like Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon and Emily Blunt likely earned themselves consideration for Oscar nominations, the rest of the cast knocks it out of the park, even with very limited screen time in some cases.
It’s a brilliant move by Nolan to utilize guys like Gary Oldman, Rami Malek and Casey Affleck — all three of whom have won an Academy Award for Best Actor since 2017 — in small, but important roles. At three hours, the epic biopic is filled to the brim with men talking about physics, morals, security procedures, war and more. It could have easily gotten confusing for viewers trying to keep characters straight.
But when you have That Guy in these small but crucial roles — like Josh Peck of Nickelodeon’s Josh & Drake fame — it becomes so much easier to keep them all straight. You remember their role because you’re so used to having their face stand out.
In Oppenheimer, Nolan uses a That Guy to tell the viewer “remember this moment”. It becomes instantly clear how important they are to the story.
So here are some of our favorite actors we’re counting as That Guy from Oppenheimer.