The film presents the audience with philosophical quandaries aplenty.
DEADLINE: How long does it take to shed the figurative weight of this sort of character afterwards?
MURPHY:Its like anything.
Cillian Murphy is J. Robert Oppenheimer in OPPENHEIMER, written, produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan.Getty/Universal
So then when you stop, its very abrupt and you have an awful lot of displaced energy.
It takes a while to figure that out.
What did he say to you when he first proposed it to you?
So that was a tremendous shock, a very pleasant one, but a shock nonetheless.
He was in LA and I was in Dublin and it was still Covid times.
I felt like it had echoes of a redemption story, but with so many contradictions.
MURPHY:Its interesting that you use the word redemption.
Did you feel it was redemptive in the end?
I dont know, but its good that it happened, but it was a little under the radar.
DEADLINE: Lets talk more about the Promethean angle.
MURPHY:Its brilliant for drama, isnt it?
Like I mentioned the Faust thing… Its not a very good novel, its not one of James best, but its very interesting.
Its really interesting to have that in your psychology all the while.
DEADLINE: Are there particular challenges associated with that?
Do you feel a lot of extra pressure?
MURPHY:Yeah, but Ive always chased down roles that I feel pressure.
Id always secretly wanted to play a lead for Chris.
I mean, its 20 years.
Hes not the sort of person that would call me up and talk and shoot the shit.
People seem to think there was, but he just seemed to think that the time was right.
For me, acting is not intellectual, its instinctual.
With Chris, I think trust is the main thing.
But it is just about trust really.
I feel very safe, you feel very cared for.
I think the reason that his films succeed on such a massive scale is that he puts performance first.
and then you went straight back into being Tommy.
Or was that just a weird day?
But, you know, it affects you completely.
DEADLINE: What did the physical prep entail?
Did you get hangry?
MURPHY: (Laughs) Probably, I dont know.
Like I said, I make a run at keep it light.
Its not a big deal really, you just kind of eat less.
I had a nutritionist and all that, but what was important was to get the silhouette.
He had a very distinct silhouette, you know?
And it was very self-conscious, self-mythologizing.
Here, Oppenheimer at one point surprises everyone by launching into what sounded like perfect Dutch.
How did you work on that?
And he said, You mean how areyougoing to do that.
And I went Okay…
DEADLINE: Do you actually know what you said?
MURPHY:(Laughs) It was something about atoms… No, I do remember.
My job was to go after the humanity.
So that stuff becomes mechanical.
What was pretty clear with Oppenheimer, there was no judgement.
I think he was forming himself in his 20s and 30s, self-consciously doing that.
Then the relationship with Kitty (Oppenheimers wife played by Blunt) is very interesting.
You know they say that you never really know what makes a relationship, but that relationship sustained.
DEADLINE: What do you think about the timeliness of the movie?
But, yeah, I think it should provoke.
I think its a very provocative film.
What happened in 45 changed history, changed the world.
Were all living in a nuclear age now.
MURPHY:It was ridiculous.
What I love about Chris, I think he always casts movies immaculately.
Now on this you could say Oh, theres just a bunch of movie stars.
So, to have a big movie star in there makes total total sense, but everybody mucked in.
Every single one of them was incredibly generous and focused and there for Chris.
DEADLINE: Youve spoken a bit about Oppenheimers naivete, can you elaborate on that?
There was this troupe of actors that would come in every day and wed really just go at it.
Was that an effort to just stay in the zone?
Youre just preparing all the time.
I just didnt really have room for it in my head, for having a crack and having fun.
Yeah, I was trying to skip meals and reduce calorie intake, but it was just a decision.
Its just focus you just want to focus on the work.
MURPHY:I guess so, theres a little preview for my wife.
MURPHY:The response has been insanely good and were so proud of it.
We were at the premiere in Paris and after the movie finished all the audience stayed there talking.
MURPHY:Oh,Peaky Blinders, inevitably.
I mean, its kind of staggering how popular the thing is still.
I thought it was a very well written statement.
We just dont want to be associated with that sort of awful rhetoric.
MURPHY:Thats the weird thing, you know?, people havePeaky Blindersweddings, people havePeaky Blinderstattoos.
I still havent figured it out its still kind of bizarre to me, but its wonderful.
It means that we did something good.
DEADLINE: Are there people you meet that make you geek out?
DEADLINE: And youre still never going to release any of the music youve done?
MURPHY:(Laughs), No, no way.
DEADLINE: Whats the status of the film youre producing and starring in,Small Things Like These?
MURPHY:We wrapped that in March; were just cutting it, were in that post-production stage.
Im really happy with it, it was a great experience.
So that was the lovely kind of bit of serendipity on that movie.
I really admire the philosophy of that company which is artists-led.
Im really proud of it, so hopefully itll be I guess next year at this stage.
MURPHY:Sure, like Ive said it from the beginning, Ill always turn up for Chris.
Ill turn up for anything Chris wants me to do, Im there.
Do you ever think about your own legacy in terms of the choices you make?
MURPHY:I think its a little dangerous to start thinking about legacies.
My career has always been incredibly haphazard and incredibly arbitrary, incredibly unplanned.
The one constant that you mentioned is the writing.
Thats what I follow.
The budget or the medium is secondary to the story always.
