Cillian Murphy on hearing about his Oscar nomination: ‘We were just having a cup of tea, and then my mum brought out the cake’

How did you find out you’d been nominated?

I was at home in Cork, in my parents’ kitchen ... So I heard when the phone started pinging ... It was just by coincidence I happened to be [at home]. I was with my parents and my wife. It felt like the right place to be. We were just having a cup of tea, and then my mum brought out the cake – so we had tea and cake. So it was nice.

Does it feel like a full-circle kind of thing?

It kind of does feel like that. It’s really nice to be in Cork. I mean, it wasn’t planned. But it’s nice to be back in the kitchen where I grew up, just sitting in the same chair, talking with my parents. [He laughs.] And then this mad bit of news comes in, so there was a nice logic to it.

How did your folks react?

They just gave me a hug. There’s not much you can really say. They’re very happy. They’re a little amused – or bemused – by it all but very proud and very happy.

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How are they bemused?

[The Oscars are] just such big thing in our cultural landscape ... And, you know, we still have the same relationship that we did 30 years ago. So I guess it’s a slightly bemusing thing to them that I can be in the kitchen, and then I could be over there.

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Oppenheimer had a mad life this year with the Barbenheimer phenomenon. Have you thought about why those films were so successful?

I don’t think I have a satisfying answer for you. I think it caught the imagination of people. It was two really good films that happened to come about at the same time – but two films that were so incredibly polar-opposite – and then the internet did the rest, really. It was a great moment for cinema that these films that were so different brought in so many [people]. The thing that makes me proud is when people stop me in the street and say, “I’ve seen Oppenheimer five times,” young and old, girls and boys. That’s the thing that makes me proud.

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Why do you think it did that?

I think that’s mostly Chris’s doing. Chris Nolan’s films are an event, and they’re so complex and multilayered. They reveal more with each viewing, and people love being able to talk about them and discuss them. It’s such an experiential thing, seeing it in the cinema, as opposed to watching them on your laptop or your phone.

How do you think of Barbie and Oppenheimer?

Each one was a lovely counterpoint to the other, I think. It’s been a great year for cinema. Not just those two films but all the films that are nominated. I’ve loved all of them. And that’s been the best part for me, just speaking to these other film-makers and actors and producers and being able to share experiences and tell them how much I’ve loved their work.

Do you have a theory about why Irish art and Irish actors are doing so well?

I don’t think it’s my place to shed light on it. I don’t think I have any purchase on it. This is, again, a cliche, but I think we are a nation of storytellers. I think we process events through story, and I think we’re very comfortable with poetry and with song. And I think that’s just something that is part of our culture. It seems to be an easy reach for all of us. So maybe that has some part to play in it.

[ Oscars nominations 2024: the complete list ]

[ Cillian Murphy: ‘People in Ireland are kinder and more understanding and a bit more copped-on’ ]

Is being Oscar-nominated something you’ve thought about?

Honestly, no. I know that’s such a cliched answer. All you think about is just trying to do the best you possibly can with the part you’re doing, and you hope you give the director enough. Because it’s a miracle if a film gets made, and it’s an even greater miracle if a film is half-decent, and it’s even a miracle on top of a miracle if people go to see it So the fact that Oppenheimer has had this connection with audiences, we realise this is very, very rare.

Does playing a character like that take a toll?

It should do. If you’re going to do something well, to a high level, I think it should exact some cost. But I’m not especially comfortable with talking about the exhaustion. I feel like the work is the work, and the road to the work is less important than the actual outcome.

It must be surreal going from embodying this character to then being on the other side of it, in the world of awards and showbiz and mass culture

It’s a completely different experience, and they seem very loosely connected, but I know they are, and I know this is a celebration of the work. My overriding emotion is just pride for everyone involved in the film, because it was a Herculean undertaking, making it and the pace at which we shot it ... And then for what Chris has achieved. It’s quite astonishing to adapt that book and then to make a three-hour film, and to make it entertaining and emotional and exciting ... The effort it takes just to get a film made is mind-boggling.

So that’s more mind-boggling to you than actually being nominated?

[Laughs] Yeah, completely. I think it is. I’m beyond humbled by this honour. It’s beyond any expectations I ever had on becoming an actor. And I’m really proud that it’s this film, because I know how hard everyone worked ... every single crew member, every single cast member, particularly Chris.

When I interviewed you before we were talking about your late night BBC Radio 6 Music show, and we didn’t talk about this film because of the Sag-Aftra actors’ strike, but how do those two things relate to each other?

I see a real interconnection between them ... For me it’s a form of expression whether I’m making a mixtape or playing a character [in a film] or playing a character in theatre. They’re all interconnected. I find they’re all coming from the same source. [He laughs] Some things hit in a bigger way than a BBC 6 Music show, but I take them all seriously.