Being called “one of the best actors of all time” by any director worth their salt is high praise, but to be named as such like Cillian Murphy recently has by Christopher Nolan – a celebrated filmmaker who has collaborated with…
- Christian Bale
- Michael Caine
- Morgan Freeman
- Gary Oldman
- Liam Neeson
- Heath Ledger
- Tom Hardy
- Marion Cotillard
- Leonardo DiCaprio
- Al Pacino
- Robin Williams
- Matthew McConaughey
- Matt Damon
- Anne Hathaway
- Kenneth Branagh
- Robert Pattinson
- John David Washington
… is perhaps the highest praise an actor could ever possibly receive.
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“I’ve always known since I first met him – however many years ago it is now, almost 20 years – that he is one of the great actors, not just of his generation, but of all time,” Christopher Nolan said of the Peaky Blinders star during his recent interview about their latest collaboration, Oppenheimer, with Total Film (via Far Out Magazine).
Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer written by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, the forthcoming biopic about the father of the atom bomb will represent the sixth occasion the duo have come together after:
- The Dark Knight Trilogy, wherein Murphy portrayed Dr Jonathan Crane / Scarecrow across all three instalments
- Inception, wherein Murphy portrayed mind heist target Robert Fischer
- and Dunkirk, wherein Murphy portrayed “Shivering Soldier”
This time around, however, Cillian Murphy will be leading a heavyweight all-star cast that features the likes of Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr, Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, Rami Malek, Gary Oldman, Kenneth Branagh, and plenty more.
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Nolan added: “I’ve been waiting for the project. I know he has too, where we can collaborate with him as the lead, and I could put the most enormous weight – cinematic weight – on his shoulders, and watch him carry that burden… It was such a thrill to be able to call Cillian, and say, ‘This is it.’”
“I’m interested in the man and what [inventing the atomic bomb] does to the individual,” Cillian Murphy, who apparently undertook “an awful lot of reading” in preparation for the role, previously told The Guardian.
“The mechanics of it, that’s not really for me – I don’t have the intellectual capability to understand them. But these contradictory characters are fascinating.”
“Tommy Shelby’s a complete contradiction, too. People identify with that because we all walk around with these contradictory ideas coexisting in our heads.”
As J. Robert Oppenheimer forever changed the world when he conceived of the atomic bomb, based on the spine-tingling trailer dropped yesterday, the landscape of modern cinema will soon be irrevocably altered by Christopher Nolan’s ambitious biopic.
“We imagine a future and our imaginings are horrifiers. They would fear it until they understand it, and they won’t understand it until they’ve used it,” Cillian Murphy’s titular character can be heard saying in the Oppenheimer trailer; intercut with shots of lab coats assembling what is ostensibly the first atom bomb.
“Theory will take you only so far… I don’t know if we can be trusted with such a weapon. But I have no choice.”
Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer starring Cillian Murphy is scheduled for release on July 21st of 2023 – the annual slot typically saved for a Nolan flick, roughly two weeks before the anniversary of Hiroshima.
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