The career pivot Cillian Murphy refused to make: “I’d never be taken seriously”
In a way, it’s a bit ironic that Cillian Murphy is about to be seen reprising his role in the third instalment of the horror franchise A Quiet Place, because for a long time in his pre-acting days, he was hellbent on making as much noise as possible.
He did that in his early years in Ireland, singing and playing the guitar in several different bands, many of which were inspired by Frank Zappa, including his most successful group, named The Sons of Mr Green Genes, who were offered a five-album record deal in the early 1990s. The band, who Murphy said would basically focus on wacky lyrics and endless guitar solos, seemed for a while like it would form the basis of his future career.
But they didn’t sign the deal on offer, because one of the members was still in school, and Murphy felt the amount of money he would get for signing away the rights to the songs he’d written was derisory. Instead, in a decent bit of nomenclature, Murphy decided to study law at university, pleased that he’d decided against being in hew to a record company.
Again, though, Murphy decided to pivot; he didn’t fancy law and instead had his head turned by the local theatre company, and specifically their production of Stanley Kubrick’s 1971 film A Clockwork Orange. He began acting, eventually graduating to playing the lead in an adaptation of Little Shop of Horrors at the Cork Opera House.
He spent several years doing theatre around Europe before making his first film in 2001 and just a year later landed the lead role in Danny Boyle’s groundbreaking zombie flick 28 Days Later, and he has never looked back since, becoming an Oscar winner and one of the most respected and talented actors in Hollywood, but does he regret not just following the music… Would he still strap his axe on and do a few tunes? It seems not.
He said to the Guardian: “I don’t think so. No, I really don’t think so. Even if I was good, the very notion of being an actor with a rock band on the side would mean I’d never be taken seriously.”
Aside from his role as Emmett in John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place 3, Murphy is also rumoured to be coming back to the series that started it all for him, with 28 Years Later: Part III due to start production. He had an uncredited role in this year’s spin-off, The Bone Temple, and he has also worked on a currently untitled film with Daniel Craig and Michelle Williams from Oscar favourite and director of La La Land and Whiplash, Damien Chazelle.
One film Murphy won’t be appearing in is next month’s Christopher Nolan epic The Odyssey, despite the pair’s long-standing working relationship, which peaked with the astonishing success of 2023’s Oppenheimer, in which Murphy played the lead, winning an Oscar and a Golden Globe for his performance.
The actor said early this year that he’s actually relieved he missed out on the blockbuster, which hits IMAX screens in the UK on July 17th, because he can sit back and enjoy it in the cinema instead.
