The defining role Cillian Murphy almost missed out on: “I was stupid enough not to understand that”
When Cillian Murphy stepped up to the podium to collect his Oscar for Oppenheimer, it was the culmination of an extraordinary journey.
Murphy found early success as the lead in Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later before transitioning into more traditionally dramatic roles in The Wind That Shakes the Barley and Breakfast on Pluto. His collaboration with Christopher Nolan began in 2005 with Batman Begins, and he would go on to appear in five of the British director’s films before taking on the iconic role of J Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb.
One of his biggest coups prior to Oppenheimer wasn’t a movie at all but rather a TV show. For six seasons, Murphy played Tommy Shelby in the BBC crime drama Peaky Blinders. As the leader of the titular Birmingham-based gang, Shelby was involved in gripping story after gripping story, winning over legions of fans and inspiring a generation of young men how to dress.
Murphy shone in this role, commanding the screen with a quiet rage every single time he appeared. His slender face under that flat cap is one of the most iconic images from across the entire series, to the point where it’s nigh-on impossible to imagine anyone else playing the character. However, that was very nearly the case, as revealed by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight.
During a watch-along of the show organised by Esquire, Knight revealed that Murphy was not his first choice for the main part. He admitted that he initially wanted British star Jason Statham, best known for his appearances in action franchises such as The Transporter, The Expendables and Crank. “I met them both in LA to talk about the role and opted for Jason,” the showrunner said. “One of the reasons was because physically in the room, Jason is Jason. Cillian, when you meet him, isn’t Tommy, obviously, but I was stupid enough not to understand that.”
Anyone who has ever heard an interview with Murphy will understand why Knight thought this way. The Irishman is incredibly soft-spoken in real life, very reserved and completely un-Hollywood in every way. As for Statham, he is a much more open book. His gruff, hardman characters aren’t a million miles away from his genuine personality, despite the star’s reservations about accepting the industry’s opinion of him. His performances in early Guy Ritchie movies Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels were basically auditions for Tommy Shelby, as he plays non-nonsense gangsters in both of those films.
One of the great things about Murphy is his ability to blend into his characters. J Robert Oppenheimer is nothing like The Scarecrow, nor is Jim from 28 Days Later similar to Emmett from A Quiet Place Part II. Allegedly, he had to prompt Knight to pick him by sending a text saying, “Remember, I’m an actor.”
After a period of deliberation, the showrunner made his choice, and it was the right one: “He can transform himself to the extent that you see on the screen now, where if you meet him in the street, it’s a totally different human being.”
Following the series finale in 2022, Murphy is set to return to the world of Tommy Shelby in a Peaky Blinders movie. The Immortal Man is set to be released on Netflix, and, in the words of Knight, it ‘won’t be the end’ of the story.
