The relationship that binds British filmmaker Christopher Nolan to the Irish actor Cillian Murphy is one unmarred by the intricacies of the politics that guide the industry from within. The pair as such maintained an enviable friendship – one that defies the professional boundaries set by famous and frequent collaborators like Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro.
The two decades of brilliant collaborative projects that were brought to fruition by the partnership of the duo were like nothing seen before, especially when one takes into consideration how Murphy would take up the role of a nameless “Shivering Soldier” in the 2017 war drama, Dunkirk and then the leading man part in Nolan’s most ambitious drama to date, Oppenheimer, without having even read the script.
Cillian Murphy’s Films Not Good Enough to Impress His Sons
Cillian Murphy speaks to the consistent brilliance of the Tenet director Christopher Nolan like no other actor before him. Having closely worked with the latter for almost 20 years and formed a relationship from his time as the foremost villain in Nolan’s first big-budget franchise movie, Batman Begins, Murphy acquired an exquisite taste for the impossible mind of Christopher Nolan. But despite the behind-the-scenes factor that makes the two so perfect in a project is hardly relayed onto the screens during a film’s premiere.
[Such a nameless partnership that extends from professional compatibility to friendship (familial even) is found only in one other place: the Guardians cast and their director, James Gunn. However, that is beside the point.]
While Cillian Murphy went on cultivating his art and curating one of the most delectable platters of cinematic experience of the 21st century, his sons, on the other hand, have not been impressed with the work of the Peaky Blinders actor ever since he lost out on the role of Batman to the inimitable Christian Bale (and for good reason).
In the background, Cillian Murphy languished as he contested for the leading man role but lost out when he could not place himself in the overshadowing iconography of the Batman suit which is more than just spandex, cape, cowl, and kevlar. At the time, he claimed the suit “was far too roomy” for him. “I don’t think I’m the right physical specimen for Batman,” Murphy claimed although he also went on to say, “It was fun. It’s a great thing to tell your kids.”
A decade and a half later, as the world went into lockdown, his time at home brought some revelations to light. It seemed his children despite being born to a father who was an A-lister were hardly moved by his movies: “They’re suitably underwhelmed by my work. I’m trying to keep them in that state because it’s such a silly industry,” Murphy would later go on to reveal in a 2017 interview with Evening Standard. So much for thinking ahead!
Christopher Nolan’s Contribution to the CBM Franchise
Christopher Nolan gave the world a beautiful three-part epic narrative that painted the saga of Batman’s origin, his journey, and the third act of his life as a Crusader. The stories traced Batman’s beginning and his eventual rising to fulfill his heroic destiny. In 2005, the world was yet unaware of what it would mean to be introduced to the visionary scale of a director as brilliantly complex as Nolan.
Back then, the era of the comic book franchise was nigh and whether the British filmmaker knew it or not, his Batman Begins foretold a story that has ever since been a milestone that marks the launch of the superhero industry at its most blinding brilliance. The decade that followed, for Marvel at least, saw the most ingenious evolution in terms of the stories of troubled heroes rising to reclaim their destinies.
The Dark Knight trilogy is now available for streaming on MAX and Hulu.
Source: Evening Standard
