One movie would make Cillian Murphy want to be an actor: “I rented this film by mistake”
Irish acting sensation Cillian Murphy first rose to our attention in 2002 when he appeared in Danny Boyle’s blockbusting zombie thriller 28 Days Later. Since then, he’s scaled his way to the top of the pile, having joined Christopher Nolan for his breathtaking Dark Knight trilogy and reuniting with Boyle for Sunshine in 2007.
Besides his impressive movie oeuvre, which includes work with Ken Loach, Wes Craven, and Neil Jordan, Murphy planted a firm jewel on his crown with his career-defining role as Tommy Shelby in the BBC’s Peaky Blinders.
In the late 1990s, Murphy was in his early 20s and had enjoyed local success as the lead singer, guitarist, and lyricist of the rock band The Sons of Mr. Green Genes. The decisive moment for the young creative came when he turned down a record deal to pursue a career in acting. While music had always been a passion of Murphy’s, he had set his sights on an acting career in his teen years and stuck with his dream.
While many stars couldn’t pinpoint an exact moment when they were inspired to become an actor, Murphy once highlighted one of his favourite films of all time as one of the strings to the bow that ejected him into a bountiful future.
In 2016, Rotten Tomatoes tasked Murphy with choosing his five favourite films of all time. For his first selection, the Irish actor picked out Jerry Schatzberg’s 1973 road movie, Scarecrow.
“I rented this film by mistake when I was 15 with my brother,” Murphy recalled. “They told us it was a scary movie. It pretty much made me want to be an actor. Al Pacino will break your heart. And Gene Hackman will break your other heart.”
Scarecrow was joined on the list by Martin Scorsese’s breakthrough movie of the same year starring Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel, Mean Streets. The film appears to have had a similarly life-changing impact on Murphy.
“Another very early formative film for me,” he said of the classic. “Extraordinary energy and performances from De Niro and Keitel, with Scorsese beginning to cast a spell over filmmaking in the 1970s.”
Thankfully, he would take up the mantle laid down by those men and set his sights on becoming one of the best actors in the world right now. Vying with his Irish comatriot, Daniel Day-Lewis for the accolade, his longtime collaborator Christopher Nolan has spoken incredibly highly of Murphy.
Speaking about the star of Peaky Blinders and 28 Days Later in an interview with Total Film, Nolan stated, “I’ve always known since I first met him – however many years ago it is now, almost 20 years – that he is one of the great actors, not just of his generation, but of all time”.
