Christopher Nolan left a heartwarming note inside Cillian Murphy’s script for Oppenheimer and the reason might make you cry.
In the movie the Irish actor played the role of US physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, who was the real-life man dubbed the ‘father of the atomic bomb’.
The film received wide critical acclaim after its release last year with 13 nominations at the Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director for Nolan, Best Supporting Actor for Robert Downey Jr and Murphy as Best Actor too.
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While Murphy went on to grab a Golden Globe for the role, many noticed that he immediately shouted out Nolan, and when you read what he wrote in the script, it’ll all make sense.
“I knew the first time I walked on a Chris Nolan set it was different,” the actor said.
“I could tell by the level of vigour, focus, the level of dedication and the complete lack of seating options for actors.”
Of course, the pair equally admire each other as during an interview with 60 Minutes, Murphy opened up about the first time he saw the Oppenheimer script after Nolan handed him a copy.
He explained: “When Chris came to see me in Dublin - he called me on the phone and then we talked about this - and then he brought this over to me in Dublin, he came from America.
“He gave it to me and went out and I read it in his hotel room.”
When asked how he reacted after reading the script, somewhat nonchalantly, Murphy replied: “I said, ‘That’s a rather good script’.”
However, the eagle-eyed folks among us may have spotted a sweet handwritten note taped onto the front page from Nolan that read: “Dearest Cillian. Finally, a chance to see you lead… Love, Chris.”
How lovely is that, eh?
Elsewhere in the interview, Murphy let slip that Nolan has a ‘tradition’ of presenting his scripts using an ‘unhelpful’ colour scheme to avoid any leaks.
Nolan also includes the name of the person the script belongs to on each page, so that if attempts to photocopy pages did happen he would know who is to blame.
He explained: “It’s always printed on red paper with black ink - unhelpfully - I guess, to prevent against photocopying, but I don’t know who photocopies in 2024. He’s always had a tradition of printing on red paper with black ink.
“Then it has my name, kind of watermarked on each page.”
Murphy later revealed that after winning his Best Actor award for the flick, his best mates still 'slag him off'.
The star told The Telegraph: “There was a lot of healthy slagging [off]. In Ireland, slagging is one of the deepest forms of affection.
"On the day of the Oscars, my best friend and brother flew out as a surprise. They did an intense amount of slagging. It’s a fair target.”
Well, at least he’s not getting special treatment.
Topics: Celebrity, Christopher Nolan, Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer, TV and Film
Britt Jones