Cillian Murphy shocked fans with his thrilling performance in Oppenheimer — but many people don’t know the extreme preparation he went through to prepare for the role.
“[Murphy] had such a monumental undertaking,” Murphy’s costar Emily Blunt told Extra in July 2023. “And he could only eat, like, an almond every day. He was so emaciated.”
Another Oppenheimer costar, Robert Downey Jr., praised Murphy for his “sacrifice” to commit to the role.
“He knew it was going to be a behemoth ask when Christopher [Nolan] called him,” Downey Jr. explained in July 2023. “But I think he also had the humility that is required to survive playing a role like this. 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?’ [Murphy would say], ‘Oh, I have to learn 30,000 words of Dutch. Have a nice time.’ But that’s the nature of the ask.”
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Scroll down to see some of Murphy’s quotes about playing the intense role of J. Robert Oppenheimer:
