As Oscar night presses forward, it looks increasingly likely that the 96th Academy Awards will forever be remembered as the year of the “Oppenheimer” sweep. And while the night’s biggest prize has yet to be announced, Christopher Nolan’s biographical film about Atomic Bomb inventor J. Robert Oppenheimer just notched a win that could rival a potential Best Picture victory in terms of importance. Cillian Murphy has won the Oscar for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, putting a capstone on his decades-spanning collaboration with Christopher Nolan and receiving a final piece of validation for his role in 2023’s unlikeliest summer blockbuster.
While “Oppenheimer” had a number of advantages that lead to its massive success — including a star-studded ensemble cast that included the likes of Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, and Emily Blunt; Nolan’s pedigree as a writer/director; and a serendipitously viral marketing rollout that saw it opening alongside Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” in the summer’s biggest movie weekend — the success of any film named after a single character ultimately lies on that actor’s shoulders. Murphy was a singular presence in the film’s marketing campaign, with many of its posters and early trailers consisting almost solely of images of his face. And his tortured performance as J. Robert Oppenheimer served as the heart of the film.
While “Oppenheimer” was Murphy’s first leading role in a Nolan project, he has been a staple of the director’s ensemble for nearly two decades. The two men first collaborated on 2005’s “Batman Begins,” in which Murphy played the villainous Scarecrow after an unsuccessful audition for the Batman role that ultimately went to Christian Bale. They went on to work together in “The Dark Knight,” “Inception,” and “The Dark Knight Rises,” and Murphy also made a cameo in Nolan’s “Dunkirk.” When it was time for Murphy to step into the top spot on the call sheet, they had already developed the kind of understanding that only comes after years of collaboration.
“We both apply ourselves to work in a certain way,” Murphy said in a recent interview with IndieWire. “And I’ve learned a lot from him. I apply myself in terms of that focus, and that rigor and that dedication, and that commitment. I’ve always had that instinct in my work anyway; it was just amplified by working with Chris. We’re both not interested in the ancillary nature of the industry. We’re both interested in the work.”
Murphy went on to explain that the role of J. Robert Oppenheimer was a task whose difficulty dwarfed all of his previous acting challenges.
“What made him so complex and multi-layered and amazing to try and wrestle into a performance was how contradictory he was,” Murphy said of the role. “He had all of the complexities and contradictions that we do as human beings, except he happened to be one of the most brilliant minds that ever lived. But yes, he was arrogant, and he was vain. And he was naive. And he was conflicted. And he was egotistical, but he was also insecure. He was all of those things. And a womanizer and selfish and also humane and generous by the same token. That’s what makes him so fascinating. That’s what why so much has been written about him and that’s why Chris knew that he would be such a fascinating subject to make a film about. But for me, it’s up to the audience to decide, not for me as an actor. You’ve lost if you ever make a judgment on a character before you play them.”
While “Oppenheimer” was certainly the largest burden that Murphy had ever shouldered on a Nolan film — from both a creative and marketing perspective — the Irish actor took solace in the knowledge that he was bolstered by an elite supporting cast that came prepared to do their best work.
“That was a huge support for me to know that these incredible actors are going to be in every one of these roles,” he said. “Every single one of those actors desperately wants to be in a Chris Nolan film. And every single one of them, no matter what size the part, is well prepared. In terms of the big stars that are in the movie, it felt like the people that they were playing were these people of substance, major historical figures in this world. You needed that weight and that gravitas that these actors bring to each role. For me, it was exhilarating every day — because I was on pretty much every day — you’d get to work with these extraordinary actors and it will just lift you up.”
