How Cillian Murphy made peace with becoming a meme: “If it’s amusing, that’s fine”
An actor like Cillian Murphy holds a lofty place in the cultural zeitgeist, bringing to mind the image of a tormented genius, be it a crime lord in 1920s Birmingham or the scientist who kicked off the nuclear arms race.
The contrast between the weight of Murphy’s turn as the father of the atomic bomb in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and the actor’s likeness being used across many memes about boredom is itself amusing, but such is the nature of internet culture. Murphy seemingly tends to have a disappointed look on his face in red carpet and interview shots, giving rise to his place in meme culture.
He is a favourite among social media users wishing to express their downcast mood and general frustration with life or people. Murphy says that the memes are “very hard to avoid” in USA Today, with his kids bringing them to his attention. “I guess you have to be flattered by it,” says the 49-year-old actor. “I don’t think about it too often, but I guess if it’s amusing, that’s fine.” Ultimately, it’s not the first thing he thinks about when he wakes up every morning. He has other things going on.
While Murphy is avoiding Hollywood following his Oppenheimer success, seeing his first-ever Oscar nomination and win, he is more in demand than ever. His beloved period crime drama series Peaky Blinders is getting a follow-up film, starring Murphy as Tommy Shelby once again alongside other returning cast members. Netflix also just debuted Murphy’s education drama Steve, and fans are eagerly awaiting the actor’s return to the 28 Days Later franchise with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple in January 2026.
Murphy’s legacy is cemented as a forboding, threatening yet sympathetic presence on screen, sometimes completely lost in a single choice, across movies also including Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Dunkirk, Inception, Breakfast on Pluto, and Sunshine. But he may also now be remembered as the “disappointed face” guy. Comparatively speaking, widespread access to the internet is still new, so we don’t know exactly how humans will look back on cultural trends like this once the era is as far back in our rear-view mirror as the Golden Age of Hollywood.
But some memes demand that future historians will have to study them, given how they illustrate today’s movie culture. The proliferation of the “One does not simply walk into Mordor” meme, for instance, has overtaken Sean Bean’s reputation for playing characters who die — it’s honestly hilarious what a staple of pop culture this image became, still showing up online and earning references in shows such as Gravity Falls.
Murphy isn’t obsessing over it; he is staying focused on pushing the envelope in his career. While repetition is key to meme culture, Murphy says, “You want to avoid repetition” in acting. “When I look at a script, if I think ‘I can do that,’ I won’t do it,” says the actor. “I like to look at a script and go, ‘I don’t know how the hell I’m gonna do that.’ If that’s my reaction, then I’ll go and do it.”
