This Ken is the bomb. This Ken is explosive. This Ken is atomic. This Ken is to die for. No, it wasn’t that complicated to deactivate the biggest promotional artifact of the year. It was enough to infiltrate enemy territory and make that campaign / marketing strategy that has broken the internet to the greatest glory of Barbie in his race against Oppenheimer his own.
The sociocultural polarization of our days, which makes everything go viral, fully reached the films of Greta Gerwig and Christopher Nolan at the very moment that it was learned of the coincidence in the release date of the adventures of the fantastic plastic doll made flesh and the misadventures of the tragic nuclear anti-hero (in Spain brought forward to Thursday July 20, one day before the rest of the world, it is not going to be that the proximity to the election day of the 23rd discourages them from dropping by the movie theaters).
Since then, the fight for the summer blockbuster – there Tom Cruise leads his true mission impossible – has been intensifying with hilarious memes and increasingly witty comments, depth charges on social networks that do not escape rigorous political reading right now : the question is no longer one of comedy or drama, lightness or intensity, but of a commercial product willing to be exploited as a franchise or auteur cinema with unwavering principles, of woke narrative versus lordly discourse. What a mania with having to choose, with how easy it is to embrace the Barbenheimer.
“I can’t wait to see Barbie. I love Margot Robbie, I love Ryan Gosling, I want to see them now!” admits Cillian Murphy. “I don’t know what the debate is about, the political turra, although it’s not that I have an overwhelming opinion about it either. My advice would be for people to go see both, on the same day. If they are good films, that is what the cinema wins”.
The Irish actor (Cork, 1976) does not dodge the bulge, or not at all, when questioned about the controversy. And that he has to defend the rival, as Oppenheimer’s headliner. It is the sixth time that he has placed himself under the command of Christopher Nolan, but the first as the absolute protagonist after a string of brilliant supporting roles, from the psychotic Scarecrow of the Dark Knight trilogy (2005-2012) to the anonymous traumatized soldier of Dunkirk (2017). , going through the heir trapped in a dream that is not his from Origin (2010).
“It took me by surprise. Although I suppose that I always wanted to have the main role in one of his films, what actor would not want to work with Chris, especially if he is such a complex, contradictory and, on top of that, iconic character. He is outrageous, ”he says.
Accustomed to playing complicated personality types (“I’m not interested in heroes or villains, but those who walk the shades of gray that mediate between the two,” he says), Murphy seems to have gotten into the skin of Julius Robert Oppenheimer as the one who put a glove The very father of the atomic bomb, watch out there. “I spent six months preparing, which is a long time for a role. He did extensive research, but in the end, the script is the best source, because it all comes out of Chris’s head. I know him very well and I trust him, ”he explains.
And then he reveals his method: “The trick is not to get too academic, because it limits you. My job is not to intellectualize the character, but to explore the humanity of him. On the set you are, the director and the actors with whom you have to interact and what counts is the emotional component”.
Well, Nolan, no matter how cerebral it is…
Well, that’s your opinion [laughs]. No, seriously, I think he knows how to reflect humanity very, very well. Insterstellar is one of the most emotional movies I’ve ever seen, tears came to my eyes at the theater.
Did you like ‘Tenet’?
Of course.
Did you get it?
No! I’m not that smart [laughter]. There are still people who ask me to explain Origin, and I can’t.
This screenplay adapts the book American Prometheus: Triumph and Tragedy by J. Robert Oppenheimer, the 2006 Pulitzer-winning biography of Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin. Knowing how Nolan spends them, it can be assumed that we are not talking about a biopic to use…
Well, not the same, although you will have to wait for the movie to find out.
The secrecy that surrounds the film is manual in these times of confidentiality clauses, to be signed at the same time as the contracts. Of course, its director does not miss the opportunity to score goals either, such as those who have already had the opportunity to see it have left the projection “devastated”, that the end is going to leave the viewer’s head as blown away as in Origin or that it is a horror movie”.
With a budget of 100 million dollars, the blockbuster (distributed by Universal after the disagreement between Nolan and Warner Bros., who wanted to release it almost simultaneously in theaters and on the HBO Max streaming platform), was shot shortly after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.
“The plot takes place especially during the Second World War and it was very strange to turn on the television and watch the news of the invasion, but there comes a time when it is necessary to shake off that burden and stick to what you are going to tell”, Murphy refers. “What makes Chris such a good writer is that this movie is going to raise a lot of questions from the audience, it’s going to make them think about history and what’s going on in the world today. Or so I hope.” Filmed in IMAX, Oppenheimer has managed a lot of theaters that operate with this projection system as a claim for the maximum immersive experience.
Is there still room for films like this among so many franchises, so many saga and so many reboots?
The way things are, it’s inevitable. Large corporations have taken control of the entertainment industry. Capitalism, you know. However, I believe that there are still great storytellers, filmmakers who tell challenging stories, far from the franchise material. Scorsese has just presented new work in Cannes. Tarantino and Paul Thomas Anderson have amazing voices of their own. Let’s see, this industry is both art and business, a paradox that makes for strange bedfellows. For my part, I try to align myself with original storytellers who are before the artistic than the commercial.
A quick review of Murphy’s career since 1996 will confirm his fondness for independent productions (The Trench, Disco Pigs, 28 Days Later, Intermission, The Party, the award-winning The Wind That Shakes the Barley and Breakfast on Pluto), which he skilfully combines with pull titles (Night Flight, Sunshine, In Time, the second installment of A Quiet Place), not always with a response at the box office, but enough to place it in a privileged position.
He, who was actually going to be a rock star: as a teenager he formed a band with his little brother, Páidi, and they were tempted by Eddie Piller for his then popular Acid Jazz label, although the record contract did not materialize. The Sons of Mr. Green Genes, they were called, like the Frank Zappa song. “Music was my first love. It didn’t work out for me as a profession, but it continues to obsess me, it’s what gives me the greatest pleasure: playing, going to concerts, clubs… I even listen to Spotify, which is evil and annoys artists, but it’s great for discovering things”, he says.
He also supports the underprivileged, especially young people from his native Ireland. Last year she embarked on the Ionbhá project, empathy in Irish, an initiative that aims to promote the so-called wisdom of the soul among students. “It’s just something I believe in and I’m very proud of. It has been shown that including empathy in the academic curriculum improves performance, ”he says of this program that seeks international reach hand in hand with Unesco, of which he is a patron.
“If I have also gotten involved, it is because I have two children and I know how difficult it is to be a teenager today. To me it makes perfect sense to support him, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to wave any flag either. I’m a fucking actor, not a politician. The last thing I want is to blurt out or show what a good person I am, ”tercia.
Oppenheimer, who was a student of religions and was crazy about Hinduism, would surely tell you that this is Dharma, righteousness in the way of life…
Oh thanks. The important thing is to be kind and decent, which is not very fashionable in our society. Look at the policy. Or social networks. Everyone is pushy and rude and makes comments that they shouldn’t. That’s why I try to keep my kids away from them. But, again, I’m not preaching to anyone, how complicated people’s lives are already. I’m lucky, I don’t want to be that kind of irritating celebrity, you know.
In case it wasn’t already clear, Cillian Murphy hates fame. Complicated for an actor with global star status, a position earned with the Peaky Blinders series for almost a decade. “Their success of him was gradual, quite slow. Hence my life did not undergo a radical change. Luckily, his fans are great. They know I don’t like taking selfies and they respect that. Man, if I could, I would make my films and then I would go home, but I understand that this is a business, that you have to talk to journalists and make your work known, ”concedes the actor, who in 2015 changed the madding crowd of London through the most peaceful Dublin suburbs.
In Monkstown, to the south of the Irish capital, the sea in sight, you can pass, more or less, for any countryman with his wife, the visual artist Yvonne McGuiness (whom he married in 2004), and their children , Malachy (17 years old) and Aran (15). “It is what suits me. One has to be true to oneself, otherwise one is an impostor. And I want to be as honest as he can, ”he says. “The less people know about you, the more willing they are to believe you on screen. I’m still being selfish, but I think I can be a much better actor that way.”
