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Feb 19, 2024 · 60 Minutes - Newsmakers. "Oppenheimer" star Cillian Murphy on the preparation, hard work and instinct behind his acting. By Scott Pelley. February 18, 2024 / 7:00 PM EST / CBS News....
- 14 min
- Scott Pelley
Feb 18, 2024 · "Oppenheimer" star Cillian Murphy pulled back the curtain to talk about his approach to acting.
- 14 min
41K. 2.6M views 3 months ago. “Oppenheimer” star Cillian Murphy pulled back the curtain to talk about his approach to acting. "60 Minutes" is the most successful television broadcast in...
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- 60 Minutes
- Overview
- Working on "Oppenheimer"
- Playing it all
- What's next for Murphy
Cillian Murphy jumped to act in "Oppenheimer," even before reading writer and director Christopher Nolan's script.
The decision paid off. Murphy won a Golden Globe for the role and he's nominated for an Oscar for the first time in his decades-long career. There have been six Nolan films for Murphy.
Murphy did eventually read the script from Nolan, printed on red paper so that it couldn't be photocopied.
"I did genuinely think it's one of the greatest screenplays I'd ever read," he said.
Murphy views it as a miracle when films, including "Oppenheimer," get made.
"And then if it's any way good, that's a miracle. And then if it connects with audiences, that's a miracle," he said. "So it's a miracle, upon miracle, upon miracle to have a film like 'Oppenheimer.' It really is."
That miracle came after months of hard work. Murphy lost 28 pounds so that his silhouette would match that of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, often credited as the father of the atomic bomb. For six months, Murphy read and listened to Oppenheimer's lectures. He performed for his dog Scout as he walked on the beach.
"I remember at one point, I said to Chris — 'Chris, there appears to be, he appears to speak Dutch here. And I think he's giving a lecture in Dutch here. What are we gonna do about that?' And Chris said, 'You mean what are you going to do about that,'" Murphy said.
While "Oppenheimer" may be the role that made Murphy a household name, he's been acting for decades, starting in his hometown of Cork, Ireland. Murphy and his brother had a band in high school and performing led him to an acting class and then his first play in the Triskel Arts Centre, which housed a small stage with 100 seats.
He was 20 in 1996 when he acted in his first play, "Disco Pigs."
"I was very comfortable on stage in front of an audience from when I was little. I never had any nerves doing that," Murphy said. "It felt natural, you know? And thrilling."
Some of his earliest audiences were "drunk guys out of their mind bashing up against" a fire escape door. It used to energize him.
"So I remember learning about, like, taking whatever you have — sort of responding to whatever the energy is in the room and using it," he said.
Today, the former stage is undergoing a transformation so it can be used by aspiring actors. Murphy, who hadn't been back to the space since 1996, visited it with 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley.
Murphy's newest movie is "Small Things Like These," which premiered Thursday at the Berlin International Film Festival. He plays Bill Furlong, tormented by injustice that he sees on his route delivering coal. His wife fears his empathy will upend their lives.
Murphy is joined in the critically acclaimed movie by Eileen Walsh, who's known Murphy longer than any other actor, having acted with him in "Disco Pigs." Walsh has seen how much Murphy will put into his roles.
"From the very beginning, our warm-ups for 'Disco Pigs' involved us punching each other quite hard," she said.
Regardless of how far Murphy's pushing has taken him, he still sees himself as an actor, not a movie star.
- 14 min
- Scott Pelley,Aliza Chasan,Nicole Young,Kristin Steve
Feb 22, 2024 · “Oppenheimer” star Cillian Murphy pulled back the curtain to talk about his approach to acting. Read the transcript here.
Actor Cillian Murphy shares the first thing he told writer-director Christopher Nolan after reading the "Oppenheimer" script."60 Minutes" is the most success...
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Feb 23, 2024 · Cillian Murphy: The “60 Minutes” Interview with Scott Pelley | Transcript. February 23, 2024. “Oppenheimer” star Cillian Murphy pulled back the curtain to talk about his approach to acting. Published on February 19, 2024. * * * SCOTT PELLEY: 2023 was the year the world learned to pronounce Killian.
