Cillian Murphy’s favourite Frank Zappa album: “He was a pure genius”
As one of the most prominent TV and movie actors of the last ten years, Cillian Murphy isn’t usually a name you see in the round-ups of ‘movie stars who are also musicians’ – but he was indeed in a band back in the day, indeed he wanted to be a rock star more than anything else as a youngster. Luckily, the acting paid off in a big way.
Now a Christopher Nolan favourite and Oscar winner thanks to 2023’s nuclear epic Oppenheimer, Murphy has seen his career go completely A-list after six seasons of the gangster series Peaky Blinders and the rediscovery of some of his earlier roles like the Danny Boyle films 28 Days Later and Sunshine.
But it seems if you gave him the chance to swap it all for a stage, a guitar and a packed crowd, he might well consider it for a while. Murphy was in several groups as a teen in Ireland, one of which was named Son of Mr Green Genes, thanks to an album of the same name by the American music legend Frank Zappa. And they had a potential brush with fame when the group was offered a five-album deal with Acid Jazz record label, which they turned down.
But it’s a different album by Zappa that Murphy cites as his favourite and the one which got him into the multi-genre composer’s work in the first place. Murphy told The AV Club: “It was (1969’s) Hot Rats. I think a lot of Zappa purists would say that’s the most accessible of his albums. But it kind of allows you to listen to him. If you can get into Hot Rats, then maybe you can ease your way into Weasels Ripped My Flesh or whatever.”
Hot Rats was Zappa’s second solo album, recorded after his group The Mothers of Invention had split. Mostly instrumental, aside from one song with vocals from Captain Beefheart, it’s an album packed full of lengthy solos with a psychedelic air. It went down well with critics and went top ten in the UK, but not so well with his old bandmates, who felt Zappa’s ego was out of control, something probably not helped by his next move of conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.
Murphy added, “I loved his individuality and his sophistication. He was a pure genius, one of a kind. He really didn’t run with the crowd. He did his own thing. And I admire that in any artist in any forum. It’s always very inspiring. It should keep you hungry. He didn’t make the easy decisions, ever. I admire his music and what he represented.”
After deciding not to take up the record deal, Murphy had a stab at studying law but gave it up after a year and instead got into acting on the stage, which led to several years of theatre productions and small independent films, before a move to London saw him noticed by Boyle for his breakthrough zombie-battling role.
While he didn’t get to be a rock star in the vein of Zappa, Murphy is doing just fine and has completed filming on an upcoming Peaky Blinders movie called The Immortal Man which is due for release in 2026. He’s also rumoured to be involved in a project with Daniel Craig from the Whiplash and Babylon director Damien Chazelle.
