Cillian Murphy Reveals the Filmmaker He Believes Is a True Master of Cinema

Cillian Murphy has spent over two decades working with some of the biggest names in Hollywood, but his heart still belongs to the directors who pushed him at the very beginning.

While he has teamed up with Christopher Nolan six different times—including his massive, Oscar-winning role in Oppenheimer—Murphy does not name the Dark Knight director as his ultimate mentor. Instead, he looks back to 2006 and his work with the legendary British social realist Ken Loach.

The two collaborated on the film The Wind That Shakes the Barley, a story about two brothers caught in the middle of the Irish War of Independence. Murphy remembers the experience as being incredibly intense, noting that he had to audition for Loach four or five times before landing the lead role.

He described the process as being very rigorous, involving a lot of improvisation and deep research into a painful period of Irish history. For Murphy, working with Loach was a massive privilege, especially because the film was shot in and around Cork, where he grew up.

He recalled that the set was filled with beautifully composed shots of the landscape and stories that were rooted in real-life events. He remains very proud of the project because it dealt with the Irish Civil War in a way that hadn’t really been seen in cinemas before, bringing whole generations of Irish families into theaters to see their own history on screen.

Murphy has often called Ken Loach a master of world cinema, placing him on a pedestal for his commitment to authentic storytelling. Even as he moved on to become a global superstar in blockbusters like Inception and Dunkirk.

That early lesson in “rigorous” acting stayed with him. It established the quiet, focused work ethic that eventually made him the perfect choice to play J. Robert Oppenheimer alongside stars like Matt Damon and Florence Pugh.

As of February, Cillian Murphy is arguably the busiest man in the film industry. Fans are currently counting down the days until the release of the highly anticipated feature film Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man.

The movie is scheduled to hit select theaters on March 6, before landing on Netflix on March 20. Directed by Tom Harper and set in 1940s Birmingham during World War II, the film follows Tommy Shelby as he returns from exile to face a final, explosive reckoning.

The Peaky Blinders movie features an incredible ensemble cast, with Sophie Rundle and Stephen Graham returning alongside newcomers like Rebecca Ferguson and Barry Keoghan.

Aside from the Shelby saga, Murphy recently made a surprise return to his horror roots. He made a secret appearance as Jim in the January release of 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, setting up his return as a lead in the third film of the new trilogy.

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