Cillian Murphy Doesn’t Watch His Own Films

Reflecting on his professional life and how he really feels about his approach, Cillian Murphy opened up to GQ for the magazine's March cover issue. The Peaky Blinders alum admits that while he has 61 acting credits, he hasn't seen most of his films. The Irish actor noted that Johnny Depp claims that he doesn't see his own films either. But in Murphy's case, "It’s actually true." The films Murphy usually avoids watching are the ones he hears "are not good." During his interview, Murphy mentioned his 2005 film, starring alongside Rachel McAdams, Red Eye. The Wes Craven psychological thriller centers around McAdams' character sitting next to Murphy's character on a plane, who ends up being a terrorist.

Murphy says the film is "a good B movie," and he recognizes the film has become somewhat of a cult classic. He attributes its longevity to the "duality" of it, adding that's why he wanted to play the role of "the nice guy and bag guy in one." He recalls the only reason the character appealed to him was so that he could make that switch. He had nothing bad to say about his co-star either, saying the two had fun making it and that he loved her. In a previous interview with Uproxx in 2021, Murphy's feelings about watching his previous work were much harsher. "I hated watching myself," he said. "I hated looking at myself on screen." The Oppenheimer star admitted he used to harshly judge his work and has become less hypercritical. However, it all stemmed from Red Eye.

Elsewhere in the cover feature, Cillian says his approach to playing a character is pretty lax. He describes his "research" as an actor to "just f---ing living" a normal life and observing and being a part of the "lovely flow of humanity." As for the types of roles he is attracted to, he loves making an audience "feel a little bit f---ed-up." Not in a horror way, he clarifies, but in a psychological, existential way. He personally enjoys watching that type of work, so he strives to make his work evoke that.

In the final stages of the Oppenheimer press tour, the actor admits that he’d rather let the movies do the heavy promotional lifting. He calls the press tours "a broken model." When the SAG-AFTRA strike began just ahead of Oppenheimer’s opening weekend, he was somewhat relieved for the break. "Everybody is so bored," he adds. Recalling the success of Peaky Blinders with no advertising for the first three seasons, Murphy pointed out that the "tiny" show "caught fire because people talked to each other about it." Quoting the mantra by legendary Joanne Woodward: "Acting is like sex—do it, don’t talk about it." He loves talking about the art and work that goes into acting but finds interviews both unnecessary and unhelpful.

With the 96th annual Academy Awards taking place on March 10, nominations for the coveted awards show have been announced Tuesday morning (January 23).

Jack Quaid and Zazie Beetz announced the nominees live from the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater. In addition to the Oscars airing live on March 10 from the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood in Los Angeles, the ceremony will start an hour earlier at 7 p.m. ET. Jimmy Kimmel is returning as the host for the second year in a row, his fourth time hosting the event overall. Watch the show on ABC, streaming on Hulu Live TV, YouTubeTV, AT&T TV and FuboTV, or on ABC.com and the ABC app by authenticating with your provider.

Fantastic films are nominated for this year's Oscars, with Oppenheimer, Barbie, Killers of the Flower Moon, Poor Things, The Holdovers, The Color Purple, Maestro, American Fiction, and Past Lives taking a lot of nominations in the major categories. This year, 321 feature films were eligible for the Oscars, and 265 of those qualified for the Best Picture category. For the first time in history, three of the ten movies nominated for best picture were directed by a female, the most in Oscars history. Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, and Celine Song’s Past Lives are battling it out against directors Martin Scorsese, Christopher Nolan, and Bradley Cooper. Only four years have included films directed by women for best picture: Lone Scherfig’s An Education, Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker, Lisa Cholodenko’s The Kids Are All Right, Debra Granik’s Winter’s Bone, Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland, Emerald Fennell’s Promising Young Woman, Siân Heder’s CODA, and Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog. Three of these women-directed films won best picture in their respective Oscar-nominated years: The Hurt Locker, Nomadland, and CODA.

Take a look below at this year's Oscar nominations:

Sterling K. Brown -- American Fiction

Robert De Niro -- Killers of the Flower Moon

Robert Downey Jr. -- Oppenheimer

Ryan Gosling -- Barbie

Charles Melton -- May December

Mark Ruffalo -- Poor Things

Emily Blunt — Oppenheimer

Danielle Brooks — The Color Purple

America Ferrera -- Barbie

Jodie Foster -- Nyad

Da’Vine Joy Randolph — The Holdovers

"The Fire Inside" -- Flamin' Hot

"I'm Just Ken" -- Barbie

"It Never Went Away" -- American Symphony

"Wahzhahzhe" -- Killers of the Flower Moon

"What Was I Made For?" -- Barbie

The Boy and the Heron

Elemental

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Bradley Cooper -- Maestro

Colman Domingo -- Rustin

Paul Giamatti -- The Holdovers

Cillian Murphy -- Oppenheimer

Jeffrey Wright -- American Fiction

Annette Bening -- Nyad

Lily Gladstone -- Killers of the Flower Moon

Sandra Huller -- Anatomy of a Fall

Carey Mulligan -- Maestro

Emma Stone -- Poor Things

American Fiction

Anatomy of a Fall

The Zone of Interest