Oppenheimer star Cillian Murphy picks out another Christopher Nolan film that he would have loved to star in if given the chance: 2014’s Interstellar.
Oppenheimer star Cillian Murphy reveals which past Christopher Nolan film he would have enjoyed starring in: Interstellar. Murphy is getting praise for his leading performance as morally tortured physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer in Nolan’s newest movie. Known primarily for Peaky Blinders, Murphy is often renowned for his highly-intense acting roles. Oppenheimer has earned him some of the best reviews of his career.
In a recent conversation with The Independent, Murphy picks which previous Nolan film he would have loved to be in, which is Interstellar. While the actor believes that the “right people” were ultimately cast in the 2014 movie, Murphy said that he “adore[s]” Interstellar. Check out the full quote from Murphy below:
“I adore Interstellar just because I find it so emotional. I remember seeing it in the cinema when I had little kids. It just had a big impact on me. It broke my heart. I love watching his films when I’m not in them because you don’t have to freak out about the size of your ears, or whatever.”
What A Cillian Murphy-Starring Interstellar Would Have Looked Like
Though Murphy didn’t make it into the cast of Interstellar, Oppenheimer was not the actor’s first collaboration with Nolan. Murphy first worked with the director in 2005 on Batman Begins, when Murphy was a lesser known actor and Nolan a burgeoning blockbuster director. Since then, Murphy has gone on to appear in five other Nolan features: The Dark Knight, Inception, The Dark Knight Rises, Dunkirk, and Oppenheimer, which marks his first leading role in one of Nolan’s movies.
Interstellar cast Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, and Murphy’s Oppenheimer co-star Matt Damon. If Murphy had been cast in McConaughey’s place to play leading man Cooper, Interstellar would have looked very different. Whereas McConaughey showed strength in playing an All-American man-turned-astronaut leaving a home of growing children behind, Murphy, who is younger, might not have captured the same weariness in Cooper’s arc.
It is hard to really imagine Murphy embodying the role in the same way as McConaughey. Murphy is, in many ways, a more subtle actor than McConaughey, but in Interstellar, there is a more tragic quality to the way McConaughey plays it. Even when dealing with the aging and passing of his children, McConaughey brings an everyman charm to the role that makes Cooper more relatable. Murphy is right to be drawn towards this emotional arc, just as Nolan and his team were right to wait for Murphy’s intensity to shine through in Oppenheimer.
