‘Incredibly talented’... Game of Thrones star Liam praises Oscar-winner Cillian
Cunningham says he predicted fellow Irish actor would win gong
GAME of Thrones star Liam Cunningham has praised the ability of Oscar-winning actor Cillian Murphy calling him “incredibly talented”.
The Irish actor — known for playing Davos Seaworth in the HBO fantasy drama mostly filmed in Northern Ireland — praised Murphy alongside a host of other acting talent from the island including All Of Us Strangers stars Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal and Ballymena man Liam Neeson.
Cunningham worked alongside Murphy on a number of projects including The Tale of Sweety Barrett, Breakfast On Pluto and The Wind That Shakes The Barley.
Speaking on RTÉ show Sunday with Miriam, he said the talent of the Cork man was evident immediately and added that he predicted Murphy was going to pick up the Best Actor Oscar last year.
Earlier this month Murphy won the Oscar for best actor for his performance in the Christopher Nolan blockbuster Oppenheimer.
Nolan also won the gong for director, while Robert Downey Jr won best supporting actor for the film.
Murphy played physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer in the story which charted his race to build the first atomic bomb.
The three-hour drama also won the Oscars for best film editing and best cinematography. It had led the field with 13 nominations ahead of the awards.
“I tell you something, as soon as I saw him, I nearly eloped with him! The man is gorgeous,” Cunningham said. “He’s incredibly talented.
“He’s been in the game a long time. I think Sweety Barrett I did with him and Brendan Gleeson — that was one of the first things he did. And then we did Breakfast on Pluto and you saw the transformation of him there.
“I mean, you know, with Oppenheimer, he’s in almost every frame, playing this quite reserved character in a three-hour movie, and most deservedly got the Oscar. He’s wonderful.
“We’ve a whole list here. Andrew Scott, I was on stage in London with him in a Billy Roche play. Look at Paul Mescal, Jessie Buckley. Look where we are with Saoirse Ronan, never mind Gabriel [Byrne] and Liam Neeson, and everyone. Listen, we punch well above our weight.”
In his speech after receiving his statuette, Murphy thanked the film’s director Nolan, crew and co-stars and other nominees.
“I’m a little bit overwhelmed,” Murphy said.
The Peaky Blinders actor also thanked his parents Brendan and Mary and his wife, Yvonne Mcguinness, “my partner in life and art”, and “my two boys, Malachy and Aran, who are sitting up there – I love you so much.”
Murphy continued: “I’m a very, very proud Irish man standing here tonight.” Meanwhile, there has been more success for another of the Irish stars Cunningham praised.
Andrew Scott made history on Monday after becoming the first to win the best actor gong from both the film and theatre Critics’ Circle in the same year.
His one-man performance in Vanya, an adaption of Russian playwright Anton Chekhov’s family drama Uncle Vanya, secured him the theatre prize at Soho Place in London. It comes after he was named actor of the year at the London Film Critics’ Circle for his lead role in Andrew Haigh’s moving drama All Of Us Strangers last month.
Collecting the prize at the Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards, Scott said about the arts: “A lot of people need it, I need it and we all do so the arts should be protected and they should be celebrated and they should be funded.
“So I just want to say thank you to the artists.”