From the Gaiety to an Oscar nod – the making of Cillian Murphy
‘Iput a bet on Cillian Murphy to win the Oscar,” director Jim Sheridan says. How much? “I’m ashamed to say it was about €9! I put it on so that I could say to him: ‘You have to bring the Oscar home – otherwise I’ll lose the bet and you’ll be responsible.’”
Murphy once heard that it takes 30 years to make a good actor. He references it as one of his favourite quotes.
By that estimation – given Murphy (47) made his professional debut in a stage production of Disco Pigs in 1996 – he is two years off becoming truly accomplished at his craft. But the evidence of his career would suggest he is ahead of schedule in that endeavour.
It is something of a fool’s errand to try and find out what kind of person Cillian Murphy is.
“As a man, he’s very unflappable, grounded,” Sheridan says. “Even when I knew him over 20 years ago, he was quiet. He wasn’t a wild man or anything.
“He was a quiet kind of guy who kept to himself. He also has an adorable wife in Yvonne who has always been his rock, I think.”
Sheridan’s daughter, Kirsten Sheridan, noticed the extent of Murphy’s talents when she directed him in the Disco Pigs movie in 2001.
“What struck me working with Cillian was his razor-sharp precision,” she said.
“I had never met an actor before or since who was able to objectively watch his own performance and craft it in intricate detail in collaboration with the director. It is a rare gift to step back from oneself and see the bird’s-eye view.
“When we screened Disco Pigs,I think the audience got an immediate sense that there was a wild fierceness to his performance.
“That fierceness continues off the screen in his absolute dedication to his craft. Let’s just say you would not mess with him.”
Murphy has always been keen to learn from his directors. In 2004, he played the lead role in Garry Hynes’s production of The Playboy of the Western World at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin.
Hynes previously directed Murphy in John Murphy’s The Country Boy and Seán O’Casey’s Juno And The Paycock, both in 1999.
He has said of Hynes: “She can see through a text to the core emotion of a thing. She’ll say ‘don’t be an actor on stage thinking about your lines; be true to those lines, feel them, give them some truth’.
“That is great because then you become an actor serving the role, rather than the role serving you, so you can deliver a great performance.”
Another celebrated Irish actor has weighed in on the Oscars discussion. Gabriel Byrne believes “there’s no one to touch” Murphy in this year’s crop of Best Actor nominees.
“Cillian has always been a brilliant actor, not just in film but also on the stage,” said the 73-year-old.
“It is a source of enormous pride to see him and the current crop of such prodigiously talented young actors coming out of Ireland.
“We’ve always had great actors, but few of them got the opportunities to show their true worth. And there are youngsters in counties all over
Cork actor showed rare talent from a young age – now he’s tipped to win Academy Award
Ireland who will be inspired to follow in their footsteps.”
Murphy’s performance in Oppenheimer has received universal acclaim.
“Cillian’s performance in Oppenheimer is a testament to his commitment,” said Kirsten Sheridan. “He brought such empathy to the human side of this complex, flawed and tormented man.
“Usually the hero gets lots of action. But Cillian had to contain all the emotion, all the energy, with such restraint and humanity. A razor-sharp balancing act.”
Murphy believes one scene in particular, featuring a portrayal of Harry S Truman, was “a turning point” in Oppenheimer’s story.
He believes it effectively dealt with how “we moved forward in dealing with, you know, the development of the hydrogen bomb and his whole attitude towards nuclear proliferation. I do think that’s a very key scene in his development”.
Murphy added: “But I think it’s kind of ebbed and flowed how people deal with this sword of Damocles, if you like, which is nuclear weapons, which we all live underneath all the time.
“Any time there’s a conflict, it comes to the fore and then it goes away. But it’s something that’s been part of Chris’s (director Christopher Nolan) thinking for a long time. He’s never forgotten about it.
“The invasion of Ukraine happened just a couple of days before we started shooting the movie. It sort of highlighted how relevant or sadly relevant this story still can be.”
Neil Jordan, who directed him in the 2005 movie Breakfast on Pluto, says Murphy “was great and perfectly cast in Oppenheimer”.
The Cork actor allegedly chased down Jordan in the hope he’d get cast as trans woman Patrick ‘Kitten’ Braden in Breakfast on Pluto.
“I knew Neil was making that film and that I was the right age,” he said. “People respond to direct contact from other artists and other filmmakers. I think people don’t do it enough.”
Jordan has verified the story. “Yes, Cillian pursued me to make that film,” he said.
“I was in two minds, because I had dealt with similar issues in The Crying Game. But his performance made it all worthwhile.”
Not least when Murphy was nominated for a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Kitten.
“His best role – despite the fact that my daughter directed Disco Pigs – was in Neil’s movie,” says Jim Sheridan. “That was an astonishing performance. I think he really wanted to do that.”
Murphy has said that playing the teacher in Mark O’Rowe’s 2012 drama Broken was perhaps the closest role he has played to his true self.
“There’s a lot of me in that character. Because he’s so grounded and normal – it’s a variation of my own personality.”
The actor’s rise in recent years puts “him with Daniel Day-Lewis and Robert Downey Jr,” says Jim Sheridan, “in the category of the top 10 movie stars. He is fantastic.
“And I’ll tell you what is so powerful about Cillian in Oppenheimer – it’s his intense presence. There’s very few actors with that kind of presence. You know, he always looks like he’s very intelligent and there’s a lot going on in his head.
“The thing with Cillian is that he doesn’t have to say much. He just has that presence. He has very clear eyes. He has the greatest blue eyes in the world.”
Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan echoed those sentiments when he told the New York Times: “I try not to think of actors as I write, but Cillian’s eyes were the only eyes I know that can project that intensity.”
Those blue eyes are likely to project a little more intensely than normal against the backdrop of a certain golden statuette.
“He had to contain all the emotion, all the energy, with such restraint and humanity”