Completely submersing into the character of J. Robert Oppenheimer a.k.a. the Father of the Atomic Bomb is not a child’s play, that’s for sure. However, despite the intensity of the role, Cillian Murphy always remained on his best game and is now reaping the fruits of his hard work in the form of praise and accolades.
After wrapping up the shoot, actors often find it difficult to adjust to their normal day-to-day lives. After all, it cannot be easy to leave those larger-than-life characters behind. The transition is not always seamless, and even Cillian Murphy has a tough time in doing so. Luckily for the actor, there is one person in his life who knows how to navigate through the situation perfectly – his wife.
Cillian Murphy’s Wife Knows Him the Best
Returning to normalcy after immersing in your characters is tough, and no one can vouch for it better than Cillian Murphy, who just had to play the role of one of the men behind World War II. Recently, the actor appeared on 60 Minutes where he and Scott Pelley discussed the transition from reel to real.
When asked whether he can simply turn off the character after the shooting is complete and become himself again, the Oscar-nominated actor replied,
“No, not really. I mean I’ve talked about this before. It’s more that there’s a huge amount of displaced energy and focus so you go from working all of that time on set being completely focused on something and then all of a sudden, it’s done and you’re not really the character but you’re not really civilian and you’re in this, sort of, I don’t know, in between liminal space…
…you’re kind of at a loss really for a few weeks, you just don’t know what to do with all this energy and this focus. And you go from, like, having this huge collaboration to just being at home and it’s a shock, you know. It takes a while to recalibrate or decompress.”
When asked if his family understands the process of extracting from a character, Murphy stated that while they do now, his wife has always understood him, even at times when he didn’t.
“They do now, I think. I understand it a bit better. Before I [used to] think, ‘I’m fine!’ but my wife would say, ‘No, you’re not fine but you will be soon.”
Soulmates just have a different kind of connection with each other, don’t they? Even when Murphy would perhaps try to hide his true feelings from his wife, she knew that he wasn’t being completely truthful and she would stand by him as he worked his way out of his intricate characters.
Cillian Murphy’s Wife Keeps Him Grounded
Murphy has been married to his wife, Yvonne McGuinness, for twenty years with whom he had his 2 sons, Aran and Malachy Murphy. The Peaky Blinders actor is a family man, and this is quite evident by the way he speaks about his wife and children.
During his appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, Murphy stated that his family plays a crucial part in keeping him grounded.
“It’s been crucial honestly. I don’t think I could have done any of the things that we’ve talked about without having them. I’ve been with my wife for 28 years now. It’s been the most important thing for me, having those kids and raising them.”
Murphy continued that having a safe space to fall back on is very important for every person out there, and his safe space just happens to be his wife and two children.
You can stream Oppenheimer on Peacock Premium.
