Cillian Murphy’s surprising diet to prepare for Oppenheimer role

Across these summer weeks, billboards are ablaze following the premieres of two of the most anticipated movies by critics, namely Barbie and Oppenheimer. The first, for dealing with one of the most famous toy dolls in the world in a more adult manner, and the second, for a moment as historic as the invention of the first atomic bomb. Oscars nominations await.

To play the lead role of J. Robert Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan plumped for Cillian Murphy, who already knows what it is to shine on set, as he did with his character Thomas Shelby in the Peaky Blinders series. And he is an actor who wanted to go one step further, seeking to truly embrace the image projected by his character.

He targeted a significant loss of kilos to create the physique of Oppenheimer. To do this, he decided on a strict diet that Emily Blunt and Matt Damon, his co-stars in the movie, have now talked about in an interview with ET, who confirmed that the actor distanced himself from all his colleagues once filming had finished, despite having a good relationship: “We invited Cillian to dinner every night and he never came.”

Cillian Murphy didn’t want to eat

And it is that Cillian remained immersed in such a strict diet that he barely ate.

“He ate like an almond, I think, most nights, or like a small piece of apple. He was so emaciated,” commented Blunt, who began to notice how the star was losing weight and his appearance worsened. “He was losing so much weight for the role that he just never had dinner,” Damon added.

It’s a topic that Murphy himself had already spoken about in an interview for The New York Times, where he stated “I love acting with my body, and Oppenheimer had a very different physique and silhouette.”

“I had to lose quite a bit of weight, and we worked on wardrobe and tailoring. I was very thin, almost gaunt, subsidising on martinis and cigarettes.”