Actor Cillian Murphy is arguably the front-runner for the Best Actor Award at this year’s Academy Awards. Murphy received critical acclaim for his performance as J. Robert Oppenheimer, in the biographical drama film Oppenheimer. While Murphy’s work was praised by critics and fans alike, he had to put in immense hard work to play the part.
In a recent interview, Murphy spoke about the challenges of playing J. Robert Oppenheimer. At the same time, the actor revealed a surprising inspiration behind his physical presence and look in the film. Murphy explained how music legend David Bowie inspired his look in the film and what prompted him to emulate the 70s icon. Here is what Cillian Murphy said about the inspiration behind his look in Oppenheimer.
Cillian Murphy Reveals His Oppenheimer Look Was Inspired by David Bowie
Cillian Murphy‘s performance as J. Robert Oppenheimer, in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, earned the actor his first Best Actor Academy Award nomination, among other accolades. Murphy and his co-star, Emily Blunt, gave a joint interview to the British Film Institute in December 2023, discussing their work in the film.
During the interview, Murphy revealed that he and Nolan decided to base his character’s look on a photograph of music icon David Bowie‘s Thin White Duke persona from the 1970s. Murphy added that he tried to emulate Bowie’s skinny appearance because he wanted his character to appear a certain way.
“He was so skinny he could sit with his leg (contorted). I can’t do it now, but I was able to. I can’t now. When I was really skinny, I could do it.”
Murphy made the above statement regarding Bowie’s physical appearance which he tried to recreate for the film. The actor added that he wanted to emulate Bowie’s physical fragility as he felt it allowed him to expand on the mental strength of Oppenheimer by contrasting it with his physically skinny look.
Cillian Murphy Talks the One Oppenheimer Scene He Improvised With Robert Downey Jr.
During the same interview, Murphy and Blunt also spoke about working with Nolan on the film. The duo was asked whether they improvised while filming any of the scenes. Blunt revealed that there was no need to rewrite or improvise on set because of Nolan’s precision as a writer.
Murphy echoed his co-star’s sentiments by stating that there were little to no changes between the script and the film we see on the screen. However, the Peaky Blinders star noted that he and Robert Downey Jr. did improvise a little during their intense round-table discussion scene.
“The only time I remember it going loose – and it was deliberate – was that big roundtable scene with me and Downey in black and white. We were allowed to improvise there.”
Murphy made the above statement revealing Nolan encouraged him and his co-stars to improvise and talk over each other during that particular scene.
The actor also added that the improvisation and loose nature of dialog in the scene energized it in an interesting way. Including the Best Actor nomination for Murphy, Oppenheimer received a total of 13 nominations at the 96th Academy Awards, which will take place this week.
Oppenheimer is available to stream on Peacock.
