In many cases, actors have to commit a level of physicality for a role, and that can mean losing weight to play a character. And Cillian Murphy went through that very thing for his latest flick. The star, who’s made appearances in Batman Begins, Dunkirk and other Christopher Nolan movies, reteamed with the filmmaker for Oppenheimer. As part of his prep to play the well-known physicist, Murphy had to shed some pounds. Interestingly, the Irish actor’s talk of his weight loss journey sounds very similar to the experiences fellow thespians Christian Bale and Benedict Cumberbatch had for their own roles.
Cillian Murphy has long wished to be the lead in a Christopher Nolan movie, so he was ecstatic when he landed the explosive (no pun intended) role of J. Robert Oppenheimer. One would imagine that it was daunting to step into the shoes of ht man responsible for the creation of the atomic bomb. But aside from the expectations, it sounds like the star also had to go through a bit in regard to his weight loss. While the 47-year-old Murphy didn’t disclose how much he lost or what the exact process entailed, he told The Guardian why he wouldn't recommend it:
You become competitive with yourself a little bit which is not healthy. I don’t advise it.
You have to appreciate just how honest he is, and that candor certainly brings to mind others who've been in his position. His Batman co-star, Christian Bale, once explained that after doing Vice, he needed to stop changing his weight so much for roles. Years before he packed on almost 50 lbs. to portray Vice President Dick Cheney in the 2018 comedy, he lost 62 lbs. for the 2004 thriller The Machinist, and it had a horrifying effect on his ass. He later had to adjust his weight for 2005's Batman Begins not long after, in order to play the character of Bruce Wayne. (Just the thought of all this is exhausting.)
On the other hand, the Oscar winner didn’t mind the weight loss for his role in Thor: Love and Thunder, in which he played Gorr the God Butcher. However, the downside to that role is that he felt limited due to the fact that he had to wear long false nails.
The Red Eye actor was already preparing to play the lead role in Oppenheimer by doing research on the theoretical physicist. Losing weight for the part may not have been his favorite aspect of the prep, but Cillian Murphy admitted to The Guardian that the historical drama’s scheduling made it easier for him not to think so much about eating:
It’s like you’re on this fucking train that’s just bombing. It’s bang, bang, bang, bang. You sleep for a few hours, get up, bang it again. I was running on crazy energy; I went over a threshold to where I was not worrying about food or anything. I was so in it, a state of hyper … hyper something. But it was good because the character was like that. He never ate.
Apparently, the real Oppenheimer’s diet greatly consisted of Chesterfield cigarettes and double-strength martinis with rims dipped in lime. (That sounds like a breakfast of champions.) While the process may have been tricky, those dietary details do help one understand why the fit-looking 28 Days Later actor had to slim out a little bit (in a safe way).
If anyone can tell you about the importance of being healthy, it would be Benedict Cumberbatch who joined the Club of Actors losing weight for their roles playing British engineer and businessman Greville Wynne in The Courier. The Doctor Strange actor’s 21-pound weight loss involved dieting and extreme exercise. But having to shrink his body mass around muscle caused him to feel dehydrated, disoriented and hungry all the time, which led to him feeling vulnerable. Nevertheless, Cumberbatch’s transformation was in service to the character he was playing -- a man imprisoned due to his espionage-related activities. And ultimately, his work seemed to benefit the performance.
Cillian Murphy has apparently joined an exclusive group of actors. You have to appreciate the level of commitment that he and his peers have demonstrated for the craft. But at the end of the day, the most important matter at hand is their health and safety. You can see the culmination of Murphy's dedication when Oppenheimer opens in theaters on July 21 as part of the with the schedule of 2023 new movie releases.
