Cillian: why is it all about meme?
Introvert actor jokes over viral social media trend
OSCAR-WINNING actor Cillian Murphy has reacted to being the most “memed” person on the internet.
The Cork man, 47, confessed: “Everyone knows that I’m the most f***ing memed awkward person on the internet.”
Cillian regularly gets the meme treatment on social media, including a viral video of him looking uncomfortable on the way into the Golden Globes with captions such as, “When you sign up for something when you’re feeling extroverted and now you have to attend.”
He joked: “Can’t I just be normal? It is nuts, you know?”
Even his Oppenheimer co-star Emily Blunt called him “the world’s best actor and the world’s worst celebrity”. Cillian, says he feels strange at having won Best Actor at the Academy Awards last month for his performance in Oppenheimer.
He added in his interview with the Financial Times How To Spend It magazine: “It’s bizarre. I see it and think ‘What the f***’ and get a shock.”
During his touching Oscars acceptance speech, Cillian gushed about being a “proud Irishman”, before signing off with thank you in Irish: “Go raibh mile maith agaibh.”
He said: “The Oscars looms very large in our cultural landscape. I remember as a kid when Daniel Daylewis, Brenda Fricker and Neil Jordan won. They’re massive.” Cillian said he “felt very strongly about my Irish identity” while accepting the award.
He added: “It was very prominent in my thoughts because it’s an American awards ceremony and you do feel as though you are representing.
“And because you’re aware of how much people at home are invested in it, you want to be the best you can.
“I’m enjoying it because I’m choosing to enjoy it and I think there’s a distinction.”