The film Cillian Murphy admits wasn’t “a good movie”
By now, Cillian Murphy has a stacked resumé. Since his breakout role in the 2001 film adaptation of Disco Pigs, the Irish actor has been climbing the ladder, dominating all spheres of indie flicks, TV hits, and big-budget box-office blockbusters. He’s currently sweeping the awards for his role as J. Robert Oppenheimer in Christopher Nolan’s latest epic. All of this is to say he’s done a lot, so we can forgive him for starring in what he considers to be a dud.
In general, Murphy seems to be quite careful about the roles he selects. He doesn’t like to stay in the same sort of project for too long, taking on characters that are usually vastly different from one another. From the violent yet misunderstood Tommy Shelby to the political dark comedy role of Tom in The Party, Murphy moves between dramas and romance to thrillers and comedy. He is, without a doubt, one of the leading actors of our time, but he wouldn’t say his 2000s movies reflect that.
“Many of my films I haven’t seen,” he told GQ, “Generally, the ones I haven’t seen are the ones I hear are not good”. Murphy is quick to clarify that he has seen Oppenheimer. He’s also seen himself as the Scarecrow in the 2005 Batman Begins. But his habit of skipping out on movies he wasn’t quite as proud of started quickly after.
Only a few months after starring in his first Nolan film and being brought into the Batman universe to major acclaim, Murphy’s follow-up project wasn’t quite as epic. It was, however, just as unsettling.
Red Eye follows Rachel McAdams as Lisa Reisert, a hotel manager who ends up tangled in a terrorist plot on a plane when she sits next to Jackson Rippner, Murphy’s charming and terrifying character. Soon after takeoff, his demeanour changes from that of a romantic lead to a true villain.
It’s a good enough film that performed very well at the box office. In fact, America, especially, loved that movie. Until recently, it was the role Americans would associate Murphy with most before Peaky Blinders crossed the Atlantic or Oppenheimer came out. McAdams and Murphy both put in great performances, but clearly not good enough to impress the actor himself.
“I remember when I saw it, [I] was like ‘Oh, that’s kind of a schlocky B movie. Rachel McAdams is excellent in it,” he said, quick to defend his co-star’s abilities. “But I didn’t think I gave a very nuanced performance in it.”
Murphy seems to think he let himself down when it came to the very thing that attracted the public to the film and his character in particular. “I think it’s the duality of it,” he told GQ of its popularity. “It’s why I wanted to play it. That two thing. The nice guy and the bad guy in one. The only reason it appealed to me is you could do that turn, you know?”
While the character, and Murphy as the actor, definitely manages that, lulling you into safety before turning on you, he didn’t think it was good enough to be anything more than a “B movie”.
Even though Murphy himself might pass that movie up now, opting to only watch his more high-brow projects, he won’t deny anyone their likes and dislikes as he concluded, “But, listen, if people love the movie, then that’s great. I’m pleased with that.”
