“Oppenheimer” star Cillian Murphy (47) steers clear of red carpets if he can choose. But he can’t these days.
POPULAR: Cillian Murphy, here at a Bafta event in Beverly Hills in January. Photo: Lisa OConnor/AFF-USA.com / Pa Photos / NTB
Sunday 11 February at 11:28
The short version
- Cillian Murphy has impressed audiences and critics in “Oppenheimer”, in the role of the father of the atomic bomb
- The actor, who has been open about being uncomfortable on red carpets, these days has to frequently move outside his comfort zone
- He has nevertheless decided to renew the Oscar gala
- Murphy thanks his wife for support and for helping to maintain contact with the ground
Sea view
The Irish actor and producer is very popular after impressing the audience and reviewers in the role of the father of the atomic bomb.
Cillian Murphy’s performance as the American physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer has led to one nomination and award after another. And it obliges.
But going from party to party is not just for Murphy, who has been open for years about how uncomfortable he is with being in the spotlight.
– I’ve struggled with it in the past, and you know, it’s never something I feel completely comfortable with, says Murphy BBC Radio 4’s «Desert Island Discs».
– But I think you simply have to decide to like it. And I think it is possible to achieve that with the brain. Just reverse the thinking. Then it’s probably easier.
The three-hour long “Oppenheimer”, with Norwegian Trond Fausa Aurvåg (51) in the cast, has run away with several Golden Globe trophies. Murphy then proudly posed with the trophy for Best Actor.
And there can be even more focus.
The film also leads the Oscar race with as many as 13 winning chances before the award ceremony in Los Angeles on March 10.
When asked by BBC reporter Lauren Laverne what he thinks about moving outside his comfort zone at the fabled film gala, Murphy replies:
– I would be an idiot if I couldn’t enjoy it.
CO-STARS: Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. at the Golden Globe Awards in January with a separate trophy for “Oppenheimer”. Photo: OConnor-Arroyo / AFF-USA.com / Pa Photos / NTB
In 2014, when Murphy was involved with the theater production “Ballyturk” in London, he stated to The Irish Post that he still enjoyed not being particularly recognized on the street.
This despite an already long track record as an actor, including in the 2006 film “Red Eye” from 2006.
– I can go to events and use public transport without someone shoving a smartphone in my face. I am so incredibly happy about it.
NORDMANN: Fv: Trond Fausa Aurvåg, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, director Christopher Nolan and Jason Clarke at the “Oppenheimer” premiere in Paris last summer. Photo: SARAH MEYSSONNIER / Reuters / NTB
Murphy also assured at the time that he was not very good at being a “celebrity”.
– I am not very comfortable on red carpets and in such “small talk” situations. But I wish I was, because it would make my life easier.
Thanks wife
But that was then. Already at that time he was well on his way out of his “shielded” private life – not least because of the lead role in the TV series “Peaky Blinders”.
And now Murphy can no longer count on not being noticed wherever he moves.
In a recent interview with the magazine Rolling Stone, he explained that he finds it “rude” when fans snap pictures of him. That is why he is most comfortable at home.
– I don’t go out unless I have a film I need to promote.
CALIFORNIA: Cillian Murphy at the Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala in January. Photo: Jordan Strauss / AP / NTB
He thanks his Irish artist wife Yvonne McGuinness (51) for support through everything, and for helping him to keep in touch with the ground.
– With fame in the picture, it really is absolutely crucial to have a secure base, he says in the new BBC interview about the woman he married in 2004.
However, Yvonne McGuinness rarely appears in the limelight. They also shield their two children from the public.
Last spring, the family moved back to Dublin, because they wanted the children to grow up in Ireland, close to their grandparents.