This week, Cillian Murphy (Cork, 47 years old) received his first Oscar nomination for his role in Oppenheimer –an announcement that surprised him having tea peacefully with his wife and parents. For that same work he already won the Golden Globe for best lead actor a few weeks ago. But to most audiences, Murphy is still the bloodthirsty Thomas Shelby from the hit Peaky Blinders and, for those who have never seen one of his work, it is a meme.
The Internet has memefied his permanent attitude of discomfort and typing “Cillian disappointed” Thousands of jokes can be found on social networks. His face has made a place for itself on the internet, among sad kittens and cloned choreographies, but he lives oblivious to the event because he lacks social networks. Is, in your own words“too old for it.”
His conversion into an evanescent pop phenomenon is not associated with his successful performance of Oppenheimerbut it happened on Tumblr in July 2017, when a user accompanied several photos of the actor at press conferences with the caption: “Cillian Murphy always looks like someone somewhere is letting him down.” In all of them Murphy seemed oblivious to the conversation with the journalists, he remained serious, distant and with a cavalier air. From there the networks did their magic and his image multiplied as had happened with #sadAffleck (arising from the ridicule for the deep sadness that Ben Affleck appeared during a promotional interview for The Justice League).
You may not remember Murphy's name, but it's hard to forget his face, those huge blue eyes in which Matt Damon, his partner in Oppenheimer, stated that sometimes he “swimmed.” Her angular face can be demonic or harmonious. “He has the blessed curse of beauty,” said Sally Potter, who directed him in The Party (2017), “but he is not the least bit interested.” He could be a classic heartthrob, but he has expressed a complete disinterest in romantic comedy. Also for the promotions, the red carpets, the interviews and everything that involves the Hollywood game and not pure acting.
“I've never been interested in that stuff. I have always been interested only in work. I suck at anything other than being an actor. I suck at being a celebrity. I suck at red carpets. I suck at talk shows. “I suck at all the things that come with promotional work,” he claimed.
The intensity of his gaze also captivated Christopher Nolan. While he was preparing Batman Begins (2005) a photo of Murphy was found in 28 days later and he couldn't get rid of those “crazy eyes.” He did audition for the role main character, although they both knew that he was not the right candidate to be Bruce Wayne. “When he started performing, the whole team, everyone in the room, paid attention,” Nolan confessed fascinated. Until then, Batman's villains had always been stars: Jack Nicholson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Carrey… It was going to be difficult to convince the studio that this unknown Irishman could be a good antagonist, but as soon as they saw the evidence they had no doubts: they had found to his Scarecrow.
Murphy became part of the troupe by Nolan. In addition to the bat saga, he has a relevant role in Origin (2010) and appears in Dunkirk (2017). When the director considered bringing the monumental American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin, a biography of Robert Oppenheimer, the scientist behind the atomic bomb, was clear about who would be its protagonist. “I try not to think about actors while I write, but Cillian's eyes are the only eyes I know that can project that intensity,” declared to The New York Times.
When the director called him (technically it was his wife who called him, because Christopher Nolan doesn't have a phone) he didn't hesitate to accept: he knew that there are few characters as grateful. The role was of extraordinary complexity, also in the physical aspect. Oppenheimer survived on Martinis and tobacco and the already tall Murphy had to lose a lot of weight, in addition to living 57 days immersed in Nolan's unsophisticated filming system, which does not include luxurious hotels or chauffeur-driven limousines. “It was not glamorous. Working with Chris everything is equal, no one has trailers or a personal makeup artist and everyone gets on the same bus. “It is independent cinema on a large scale and that is how I enjoy working,” he explained to Los Angeles Times.
The result has been unbeatable. Murphy has already won the Golden Globe and is a strong candidate to win the statuette at the next Oscars, where Oppenheimer is the film with the most nominations. It has also been a box office success: it has grossed more than three hundred million dollars, a not inconsiderable figure for a film of more than three hours about a physicist. Something to which the phenomenon has contributed Barbenheimer, the simultaneous release of both, which consisted of showing them as an indivisible experience and not as a fierce fight at the box office. Murphy was one of those who signed up for the event, although he had to see Greta Gerwig's film alone: the premiere of Barbie caught him at the world premiere of his film in Paris and when he got home his wife and children had already seen it. seen.
The exhausting promotion of Oppenheimer It has been swampy terrain for a person so jealous of his privacy, although he has had a good school. Peaky Blinders, the British gangster drama that aired for six seasons, became an unpredictable hit that made Murphy an international star. The bloody Thomas Shelby, an elegant and Apollonian Tony Soprano, appears printed on t-shirts, his style is outlined in laudatory fashion editorials and his now iconic haircut – which the actor so desperately wanted to get rid of – is one of the most requested in barbershops.
Television brings excessive popularity, something that was not on his agenda when he accepted the role, but the broadcast of the series on Netflix multiplied his audience. “I don't like people photographing me. “I find it offensive.” When strangers approach her, she is aware that people want to see Shelby, not him. “People expect me to be mysterious and boastful,” she explains. And that's why he fears disappointing them. “Sometimes I feel a little sad that I can't provide her charisma and swagger. Shelby couldn’t be further from me.”
Growing up “as Irish”
Cillian Murphy is the son of two teachers from County Cork. He has three brothers and was raised in a cultural environment that favored his first passion: music. As a teenager he formed a group, Sons of Mr Green Genes, which in 1996 was offered a recording contract by Acid Jazz Records, the highest aspiration of any musician… if it weren't for the fact that while waiting for the offer had caught the theater bug. A representation of A Clockwork Orange had changed his life and when he had to choose between continuing with the band or accepting a role in the play Disco Pigs by the Irish playwright Enda Walsh, had no doubts. The work became a small phenomenon that had another happy consequence: it allowed him to meet the woman who is still his wife.
He reprized the role in its film adaptation and there he was discovered by the casting director of 28 days later (2002), who knew he had found the perfect protagonist. If Danny Boyle's zombie – or infected – film put him on the map, her portrayal of a transsexual teenager in Breakfast on Pluto (2005), Neil Jordan's adaptation of Patrick McCabe's novel, earned him his first Golden Globe nomination. To prepare for the role, he spent weeks touring London's transvestite clubs dressed and made up as his character. Jordan did not feel like revisiting a theme that he had already portrayed in crying game – sexual ambiguity, IRA and nightclubs – but it was Murphy who insisted on it for years. Although the film received lukewarm reviews, his complex performance came out well.
Another brilliant British director, Ken Loach, gave him what is so far his favorite role, that of the doctor who abandons his profession to fight for the freedom of Ireland in The wind that stirs the barley (2006). Murphy is an Irishman proud of his origins. After spending fourteen years in London he returned to Ireland in 2015 to raise his children “as Irish” and close to his grandparents. Also to escape the winds of Brexit that were hovering over England, “We felt like rats on a sinking ship, it was the right time to return,” he confessed.
His life is very far from what a star is supposed to have. He is not obsessed with work, he enjoys the months he spends between one project and another, he likes spending time with his family, walking his dog, cooking – he and his wife are vegetarians – and chatting with his friend Colin Farrell. Music is still important in his life and so is running (he has participated in the Paris half marathon).
While promoting Oppenheimer in the race towards the Oscars, reluctantly but professionally, he finalizes a much smaller and more personal project that he has been working on for some time, the adaptation of Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan, a heartbreaking work about the complicity of Irish society in the Magdalene laundries, the tragedy of thousands of Irish women who for years were subjected to abuse in asylums run by Catholic nuns. A national drama that Peter Mullan addressed twenty years ago in the devastating The Magdalene Sisters (2002). This time Murphy, in addition to starring, will serve as producer for the first time alongside Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.
It will premiere in February during the Berlin Film Festival, so it will have to multiply, something that does not worry him. He is proud of the story he has in his hands. “In Ireland we have not yet processed what happened to the church and art can be a balm to help us with it.” That, and not the red carpets, is why one day he decided to be an actor.
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