As July 21 draws closer and closer to the Barbie vs Oppenheimer showdown, press interviews from the cast and crew members of both films have given some interesting insights into how the gruelling the process of making a cinematic masterpiece, especially for Cillian Murphy.
Female lead Emily Blunt revealed to People Magazine that Murphy sat out most of the cast dinners because of the immense pressure the role had placed on him.
“We were all in the same hotel in the middle of the New Mexican desert. We only had each other. Me and Matt [Damon] were roommates and we were like, ‘Let’s go to have dinner.'”
“Murphy did not attend because the sheer volume of what he had to take on and shoulder is so monumental,” Blunt said.
Matt Damon added that the pressure to carry the film was placed entirely on Murphy’s shoulders
“Of course he didn’t want to come and have dinner with us. He couldn’t. His brain was just too full. You know that when you have those big roles, that responsibility, you feel it’s kind of overwhelming,” he told People.
Oppenheimer is a true story based around the life of J Robert Oppenheimer and his efforts to make the first atomic bomb. Murphy stars in his first leading role on the big screen with the writer/ director, after working with him previously on the Batman Trilogy and Inception.
Murphy revealed that Christopher Nolan gave him the opportunity to be the lead in the film through a cold-call offer:
“He’s so understated and self-deprecating and, in his very English manner, just said, ‘Listen, I’ve written this script, it’s about Oppenheimer. I’d like you to be my Oppenheimer,’” Murphy said while speaking to The Associared Press. “It was a great day… We have this long-standing understanding and trust and shorthand and respect. It felt like the right time to take on a bigger responsibility. And it just so happened that it was a huge one.”
