Matt Damon and Emily Blunt heaped praise on a slimmed-down Cillian Murphy for Oppenheimer

Murphy went on a severe diet to get the late physicist Robert Oppenheimer’s signature silhouette.

Christopher Nolan’s new film is coming to theaters this summer Oppenheimer, which presents important moments in the life of Robert Oppenheimer, the scientist known as the father of the atomic bomb. The physicist is 47-year-old Cillian (pronounced Killian) Murphy (Peaky Blinders, 28 Days Later), who had to physically transform himself for this.

“I also like to act with my body, and Oppenheimer had a very distinctive figure and silhouette, so I wanted to get it right. I had to lose quite a lot of weight and we worked on it with the costume designers and the tailors. Oppenheimer was very thin, almost bony, and lived on martinis and cigarettes. I wanted to capture his wide-eyed, sparkling eyes, so we worked a lot on his facial expressions before we started shooting.”

Murphy told the New York Times about the preparation.

It seems to have worked out quite well, as the actors of the star-studded production (among others, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Robert Downey Jr., Josh Hartnett, Rami Malek and Matt Damon also play in the film) were completely in favor of Murphy’s role.

Incidentally, the director-screenwriter originally thought of Murphy when he wrote the main role, and this made the Irish actor very happy, because according to his own admission

The interesting thing about the script is that the singular number is written in the first person. Murphy really liked the unconventional format, and immediately accepted the role, which took a lot out of him. According to his co-star Matt Damon (above), who portrays Lt. Gen. Leslie Groves, for example, Murphy essentially had to run a marathon for the role:

“When you’re at the center of a film of this scale and shoot seven scenes in one day, it takes a special focus, care and commitment. It’s beautiful to see how someone gives himself completely to this task”

Damon praised his colleague.

And Emily Blunt, who plays Oppenheimer’s wife Kitty, said this about Murphy:

“There are not many people who are so captivating even when they seem to be doing nothing. He took care of every little detail. This film explores not only the trauma of living with a brain like Oppenheimer’s, but also what one does with it and how far one is willing to go. Cillian brilliantly plays this duality”

said the actress (below).

Oppenheimer comes to Hungarian cinemas on July 20, you can watch the trailer here: