Getting to work alongside Christopher Nolan must feel like the opportunity of a lifetime for most actors, but even though Cillian Murphy has already gone through the experience five times before, he still lost his cool when it came to Oppenheimer.
The Irish actor best known for portraying Tommy Shelby in the BBC’s Peaky Blinders is soon bringing to life one of the most iconic people in history. Murphy’s first collaboration with Nolan dates back to before 2005 for the role of Dr. Crane in Batman Begins. Murphy went on to reprise that role for the movie’s two sequels, while also appearing as a side character in two other Nolan flicks, Inception and Dunkirk.
But never has the actor been put in a position where he would essentially carry the film. Oppenheimer is finally giving him that opportunity, and according to Nolan himself, who expressed his candid opinion in a recent chat with Entertainment Weekly, telling Murphy that this is the project where “[you] get to show what you can do” was definitely a highlight for him.
Even Murphy was apparently moved by the call, referring to it as “one of the best days” in his life.
“It was one of the best days of my life, I’ll tell you that, when you called me. [Laughs] I’ll always turn up for Chris, no matter what the part is, but, secretly, it’s a dream to play a lead part. The thing was, I had no idea. There was no preamble or anything, I just got the call. So it was incredibly exciting, and daunting, and terrifying, all at the same time.”
While Oppenheimer takes advantage of a star-studded cast — and that’s the biggest understatement of the year right there — the movie is ultimately the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the so-called “father of the atomic bomb.” And knowing Cillian and his range, not to mention his utterly stupefying acting chops, we have no doubt that Oppenheimer will come to life on the big screens in all of his nuanced complexity.
Mark your calendars, folks, because this new Nolan pic is opening in theaters on July 21.
