Ireland used to take pride in begrudgery – a venerable tradition of belittling success – but Cillian Murphy’s win at the Oscars has ruined that legacy by uniting the country in delight.
The actor’s triumph in Los Angeles prompted a wave of tributes from Michael D Higgins, the president of Ireland, as well as the government, artists, academics, commentators and childhood friends, with no dissenter.
The Oppenheimer star was lauded for his talent, grace and humility after becoming the first Irish-born actor to win a best actor Academy award – and doing so without acquiring delusions of grandeur.
It helped that before the ceremony Murphy declared that the footballer Roy Keane would always be the most famous Corkman.
In his speech from the podium he referenced his roots and dedicated his award to “peacemakers”. “I’m a very proud Irishman standing here tonight,” said Murphy, before concluding with the Irish for thank you very much: “Go raibh míle maith agaibh.”
For a national mood soured by defeat to England in the Six Nations rugby tournament and acrimony over constitutional referendums, here was balm, topped with the Irish production company Element Pictures winning four Oscars for Poor Things.
“Congratulations to Cillian Murphy on his wonderful achievement in winning the best actor Oscar, which he so appropriately dedicated to the peacemakers everywhere,” said the president.
“The pinnacle of any actor’s career and a fitting recognition of the immense talent of Cillian Murphy,” said the arts and culture minister, Catherine Martin.
More tributes from Ireland’s ambassador to the US, Murphy’s University College Cork alma mater, the lord mayor of Cork and Screen Ireland, the development agency for Irish films, swelled a chorus of pride in the actor’s journey from Cork to Hollywood.
“When the boys came in this morning there was a bounce in their step,” said Seán Lyons, a former schoolmate of Murphy’s who is now principal of their former primary school, Saint Anthony’s. “There is a real awe and celebration of what this achievement is,” he told RTÉ. As a boy Murphy had “great flow” with English, was fluent in Irish, a great illustrator and not bad at Scrabble, said Lyons. “He liked the craic but was a very grounded person.”
Newspapers recalled Murphy’s start in music – his band was called the Sons of Mr Green Genes – before switching to acting and making a mark in Enda Walsh’s play Disco Pigs, about feral Cork teenagers.
He told the Irish Times that as a young actor he would spend his days in the Dublin bookshop Hodges Figgis. “They had a cafe where you could get coffee for 50p. They’d fill up your coffee again and again, so I’d just stay there reading books because I had no job. I didn’t do a degree. So that was my degree.”
Film roles followed, including playing the villain Scarecrow in Christopher Nolan’s 2005 Batman Begins and the lead in Ken Loach’s 2006 film The Wind That Shakes the Barley, about Ireland’s revolutionary period.
Then came Peaky Blinders, Dunkirk and Oppenheimer, amid other roles, all while keeping a low-profile private life with his wife and two sons in Monkstown, south County Dublin – an atomic strike against any latent begrudgery. “Moving home from London was the best thing we did,” he told the Irish Times. “We have a nice little normal, lovely life here, and I love it.”
