Cillian Murphy was “in a daze” after his “meaningful” Oscar win when he became the first Irish-born star to scoop the coveted Best Actor gong.
The 47-year-old actor landed the accolade for his work on ‘Oppenheimer’ at the 96th Academy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday night (10.03.24) with his win becoming Ireland’s first victory in the category since Daniel Day Lewis for ‘My Left Foot’ back in 1990.
Speaking in the press room after picking up his statuette, Murphy told journalists: “I’m in a little bit of a daze, I’m very overwhelmed. I’m very humbled. I’m very grateful and you know, very proud to be Irish standing here today.
"It’s really really meaningful to me. I don’t know if I said this in my speech, because I can’t remember what I said. I did want to say that I think in Ireland we are really great at supporting artists and I think we need to continue to support artists and the next generation of actors and directors. I think that’s vitally important. That’s all I have to say."
When asked if he is "content" about being remembered for his role as atomic bomb scientist J Robert Oppenheimer in the movie, the actor replied: "Very content. I mean, you got to move forward, but this has been a huge, huge moment for me.
"The movie is so special to me, and myself and [director] Chris [Nolan] have such a special relationship. And I just feel very privileged to be able to continue to work with him and I’m very proud that this is a film that is provocative, and that asks questions, and is challenging, but yet so many people went to see it, so I’m really really proud of it."
Murphy added of his relationship with director Christopher Nolan: "It’s very very special. We have been working together for 20 years. I think he’s the perfect director, he’s an extraordinary writer, he’s an extraordinary director of actors.
“He presents this film like no one else does in the world, and I just can’t believe my luck. I did a screentest for him when I was a kid, and I thought that would be it and it would just be enough to be in a room with Chris for a couple of hours, and here we are. So, I’m just so humble and thankful.”
