Robert Downey Jr. sang Cillian Murphy’s praises for his take on J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb, in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer.
In a conversation with People magazine, the Iron Man actor, who plays Atomic Energy Commission chairman Lewis Strauss in the film, explained he was impressed with Murphy’s “commitment” to the role.
“I have never witnessed a greater sacrifice by a lead actor in my career,” Downey told the publication. “He knew it was going to be a behemoth ask when Chris called him. But I think he also had the humility that is required to survive playing a role like this.”
The Sherlock Holmes star shared that the cast would go and do things together when they had a break in production, but Murphy often passed on joining so he could keep working.
“We’d be like, ‘Hey, we got a three-day weekend. Maybe we’ll go antiquing in Santa Fe. What are you going to do?’ ‘Oh, I have to learn 30,000 words of Dutch. Have a nice time,’” Downey recalled. “But that’s the nature of the ask.”
Florence Pugh, who plays one of Oppenheimer’s biggest loves psychologist Jean Talbot, also reflected on her time starring opposite the Peaky Blinders actor in the film.
“Chris had one of the most incredible leads in Cillian,” she told People. “He is an actor that I have been watching for quite some time and have been desperate to work with for ages. You’d have to be mad to say no. It was truly one of the best experiences that I’ve had.”
The Don’t Worry Darling actress shared that working with Murphy was “hugely impressive.”
“Every single day he shows up knowing every single possible way, intonation, inflection of how to bring this character to life,” she continued. “There’s a reason why he is one of the greats.”
In a previous conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, Nolan revealed he knew almost immediately that he wanted Murphy to portray the physicist in Oppenheimer, which is based on biography American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer.
“I’ve been staring at the cover of the book American Prometheus for so many months, and there’s this photograph, black and white, a light blue-eyed stare, very intense, of this guy,” Nolan told THR. “And I thought, ‘Well, I know who could do that.’”
The Oscar-winning director called the actor while he was at home in Ireland and offered him the role of a lifetime.
“He’s just so understated and matter-of-fact and British,” Murphy said of Nolan. “It was like, ‘Cillian, look, I have a script, it’s Oppenheimer and I’d like you to play Oppenheimer.’ That was it.”
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