Cillian Murphy & Florence Pugh Oppenheimer Interviews Compilation

will we start I would give you the chance to Florence some flowers and see if she finally you know what's going to happen I know I do I do let's see [Music] [Laughter] thank you so much every time thank you Kelly and obviously you're no stranger to another movie but this is your first time stepping into a leading role so what was your reaction when you know you got the call and Florence for you what was the reaction because this is your first Nola movie it was a complete and utter shock you know that's Chris's kind of ammo you know he just calls you out of the blue when the script is finished and they know that they're shooting and it was Emma you know his wife and producer that called me and I genuinely didn't know anything and and it's one of those calls that you get a few times in your career if you're lucky and this is one of them so you know I had to sit down and then um begin to process and then immediately you see start to go to work you know that's that's your kind of instinct is the joy is amazing in the kind of elation and then it's like let's get into it yeah exactly yeah all Americas industrial might it's scientific innovation connected here similarly however I didn't really know what was going on or what it was that was being made except I knew that um Chris really really wanted me to know that it wasn't a very big role and he understands if I don't want to come near it and um and I I was like it doesn't matter if I even if I'm a coffee maker at a cafe in the back of the room let's do it yeah um but no it was it was obvious and we met for a drink in in New York at the time and I was currently shooting a good person and it was at the end of a shooting day and I remember he was actually doing a scout the next day and it was just there's one of those bizarre moments in your career you're like I'm meeting Chris going on and I remember he apologized by the size of the role I was like please and he said we'll send you the script and you honestly you just read it and you decide if it's like I completely understand the sizing thing I remember like even when I got the script being like I don't need I know I'm gonna do it it was the moment in the movie that I really love when we see Oppenheimer and he's wearing this army uniform and it's almost this time like what if this isn't you you're a scientist why are you wearing that and I think it really highlights how clothing can help us unlock and harness like ourselves and who we are so for you guys with the costumes in this film how did it help in unlocking these characters and finding out who they were for you um that's a great question um he um after that moment in the film and if you remember he kind of in our in our story he puts on the hat and picks up the pipe and it's him kind of creating this person that's him kind of self mythologizing and um we worked very closely with our wonderful Uh custom designer to to design the clothes and particularly I wanted to get his kind of um his silhouette you know because he was very fragile he was very very slim and I wanted to get that that silhouette right and weirdly Chris sent me a a couple of shots of David Bowie certain amperes and David Bowie's uh career like um you know tiny chuk and like him around the Young Americans time so these massive trousers and he was so emaciated but so cool um so we used that weirdly for inspiration for some of pop and I miss trousers healthy diet yeah he barely ate and when I heard along the way that he ate like peanut butter and chocolate stuff on sauce on toast yeah and and then was Tiny yes and then would like drink copious martinis oh amazing yeah so yeah I'm gonna say to that what is your guy how do you guys take your martinis or is there a specialty drink that you guys love to make I actually do like martinis that is my that is actually the drink that I had with Christopher Nolan so yeah I had a martini I have it with a Twist no vermouth and extra cold love that oh I'm a bit I'm less sophisticated I'm more like a dirty old planter Guinness yeah yeah not dirty though you want the same top it's just a figure of speech right the lipstick room around the glass I mean everyone calls me kill always and if they if people call me Killian I get nervous how awfully embarrassing if you guys could go back in time and spend a day with anyone from history who is John Lennon for me yeah it was a good one you can wear your card again all right maybe I'll embellish you with something like that no no no no guys congratulations on the movie thank you thank you I saw it a couple of days ago and I'm genuinely still thinking about it it's a masterpiece great um so Killian um both of you are known for taking on really difficult and challenging roles um but I swear you're in like 99 of the frames of this movie um was playing Oppenheimer the most challenging role of your career I probably I'd have to say that and certainly in terms of the the the the the the complexity of them and then the added responsibility of him being this huge iconic figure of the 20th century and you know his story changed the world we all live in oppenheimer's world we all live in a nuclear age because of for what he created you know the normal Arc of a protagonist is sort of they start here and then something happens over their life and they change and they end up here his was like all over the place it's so complicated and unpredictable so um I I would I would say that when you have a director as unbelievably brilliant and gifted as Chris and you have a cast it's unbelievably in gifted as these guys then you know you're kind of feeling safe hands yeah of course but you summed up Perfect by saying you're such a complex man that was literally one of the notes I made whilst I was watching it great minds complex take that complex so I'm fascinated by seeing uh portrayals of legendary historical figures and movies um and obviously we get to see oppenheimer's relationship with Einstein in the movie yeah so it got me thinking if you guys could go back in time and spend a day with anyone from history who would you choose um I know got [Laughter] uh it would be John Lennon for me yeah it was a good one that's a great show obsessed maybe mine Jimi Hendrix yes we could have a jam yeah four of us yeah you can wear your card again all right maybe I'll embellish you with something like that no no no no no no just please just the Navy cardigan yeah perfect fair enough that would be quite a good tea time though yeah it would be a great high tea yeah I've written down either Elvis or James Dean for myself so that's a hell of a dinner party that is a good wine tasting so uh Florence one of the things that I took away from the first hour or so is the importance of a good Mentor and I was wondering which of your co-stars or people in the industry have been like a really important mentor to you oh good question um I actually lots of mine have been either directors and I mean obviously cast because yeah that you spend so much time with them but um I say Shaheen baik has been a mentor to me for a long long time um and even though I our paths don't cross as much anymore she's I mean at the beginning of my career I was sending her everything like do I go do this what do we do um yeah I think I I pick up people that have been really interested in helping me from the beginning and helping me understand what I need to know and and where I need to go and I think for me it's been fantastic fantastic odd crew members and I'm like yes yeah I need to listen to you she's trying to sound like what should I do next kind of yeah I love that um so obviously uh Robert and Jean had a really troubled relationship and it's really really sad to see it unfold um so I thought it'd be a nice way to end this interview if you guys shared the thing you love the most about the other person oh bring a bit of closure you mean the characters are the each other on each other yeah [Laughter] um you go first oh my God for terrible at giving I think I think we are too by the way listen I got to work with Florence in this and she's just a stunning stunning stunning actor and that's the thing that struck me most and you know it's her presence on screen and and in person and we also had we had a good laugh you know with good chats I remember because it was kind of mostly us you know we didn't really interact with other characters so I really enjoyed working with her I've loved watching her her work you know over the years I also think when you have to you know do any version of an intimate scene whether it's like a heartbreak scene or a love scene or whatever it's so wonderful when you a already admire someone's work and B you already trust them and I think that was something that was just like a real gift that you know you always hope that that's going to be the case and it never always is um and it was just truly a joy despite you know all of our arcs yeah yeah for sure I love that you guys are the best being obviously review I love for like a massive imposter syndrome so this has been a really lovely interview thank you so much guys thanks congratulations guys this film it feels weird to call it entertainment because it's like a piece of art incredible incredible in every way quickly though did you like how much of this science did you understand because I felt not very bright sometimes listening to the stuff that Oppenheimer is talking about and writing on the board and it kind of went over my head a lot of that stuff how much did you understand don't feel bad honestly don't because I I I I I I I didn't really understand most of it I had a vague concept conceptual grasp of it I did work with um Kip Thorne who was the science advisor in the movie and he was a science advisor on um Interstellar as well and he's like a Nobel prize winning physicist but that's not our job is to understand I don't think it's your job as an audience member you know I did realize when reading it I was like oh that sounds pretty I'll get that in the movie um also just because I can see them down by your side um flowers um previous interviews yeah you but your character not I guess not a fan of them because they kind of end up in the bin a lot how do you know I think she probably was if they had been from the right person I think it was just very conflicting that was where I that's how I felt about it it was just a very conflicting thing to be given by someone and it was it was confusing in her brain and body there's no doubt though that Oppenheimer was a genius the amount he held in his brain I just can't even begin to comprehend the thing of learning Dutch in six weeks I was just like and even your great job by the way speaking Dutch I don't know if you do speak not a top notch well no great but our um our dpenheit is from Holland so he recorded me that speech on my phone and then I just slowed it down and learned it just fanatically I have no idea what it means ah just phonetically because I was going to say what is the [Laughter] quickest because as actors I imagine you have to learn a lot of different skills for different movies and things what is the thing that you think you've had to learn in the shortest amount of time I had to learn Russian in like not all of Russian I had to learn a Russian few lines and it changed in the morning after knowing and it's so every little like in your mouth means a completely different thing and so Scarlett and I would be saying what we think were lines and we're like Okay so it's saying anything and that was really really tough going because you also just don't want to like offend anyone yeah especially when you don't know how about you tell him uh I guess in this one there was a lot of the equations I had to learn by by wrote um again actually something kind of satisfying because they're just these beautiful marks it becomes it kind of feels like hieroglyphics hieroglyphics or something again I just did that for months and months and months it's hardly any of it in the movie oh well at least you know you didn't I did um I had to say watching this it made me it made me question so much about what goes on behind closed doors that we just don't know what's going on I don't know how much your mind goes there like obviously they're building this bomb that could take out the entire world and they're like yeah we'll give it a go like we'll see what happens how much do you does your mind go think like oh God there's other stuff going on in this world that we just don't have a clue about good question it is a big question there's always stuff going on there and stuff that you'll never know about but I mean I don't know if that's anything that I never can I don't like that you can't let that freak you out though because otherwise you're just being a ball in a room and never come out I feel like that's why I was just you know when you come out of this film and it's not like you're not it's it's uncomfortable almost to watch because it leaves you with so much yeah and the fact that you don't understand what goes on in that in in these Brains it's like makes you even more alienated for sure and I know Kelly and you have said that every role that you do you take something away with you from it oh you have in the past oh sure what did you what would you say you took from this one you mean physically maybe more mentally but if you do it physically as well by all means I I don't go into you know film roles looking to learn something I feel my job is to just give the director the raw materials I mean you learn skills like you know to play Russian or to speak Russian or whatever like but I don't come in as a sort of a form of analysis yeah really you've done a great job regardless thank you well it's just yeah mind-blowing so good luck with it guys I don't really know much about um oven high before going into this apart from see the thing that everyone knows so killing I wonder for you what was the time where you felt that you got him as a person was it during the preparation or was it some scene when you were filming it say that at any point during filming certainly I don't it's a constant sort of learning process a constantly kind of unraveling constant you're like a detective the whole time um but I then you just kind of pass it over to Chris and he puts it together but he was particularly particularly unknowable kind of character particularly kind of opaque kind of morally and everything and Chris always used this expression with me from the beginning which was that he was kind of dancing Between The Raindrops you know that was really useful but tricky yeah I think it's always harder as well when the people were real people yeah because how are you to ever truly not yeah and Florence obviously you hadn't worked with Christmas before but you must have had some expectation of what it would be like so what did the reality end up being working with no expectation of what I mean other than the fact that he is probably the director that every single actor would race across the world for and pay for their own plane ticket I don't you know no one could have prepared me for what it was like to work with him because it's it's that in itself is the experience and like I would have been totally happy to never have seen this movie just like being being on that set and watching how that man conducts the set and how he conducts the people around him was was thrilling enough like that was the gift um and uh it's just also wonderful that he also produces something amazing and Killian obviously works with him multiple times before but your first League role for Christmas did that make it an instant yes or was there still a little bit of oh I'm not sure all about this yet or was you oh God like I've said yes to him from the beginning and will continue to say yes yeah whatever you know like Florence said anyone any actor would wanna would want to work for Chris no matter what what the part but I didn't expect I didn't know it was going to be this huge ginormous terrifying part so all you all the time massive IMAX cameras in your face yeah well there's a pretty nice complex character though yeah yeah but you know when it's Chris he's just he's just he's a genius you know and I don't throw that word around but that I think he definitely qualifies yeah for that yeah did it help that prior relationship as well to because on my timer is such a complex character does that help in terms of realizing what Chris wanted to do with this film oh yeah I mean I don't know about you but like I love recollaboration it's the it's the richest thing when you're in work because you developed a shorthand and this trust and this kind of respect and shared taste and so I hope that myself and Chris have developed that over the years and it just means you go straight to the work you have a direct line to the work it is not none of the kind of fannying around you know yeah definitely um obviously this is on a very small discount but the big thing about this film is the Trinity test and even though you know how it's going to happen what's going to happen I was still so tense during that scene and it all revolves around whether oppenheim would destroy the world yeah on a lower level for you guys what is the thing you look back on in your career and like all taking that role will be a game changer could go completely wrong could go really right Lady Macbeth was probably the thing that really kicked me into like what it was that I wanted to make and what it was that I wanted to be like showing for the could do but also that was weird because I was supposed to actually be doing an American TV show at the time and it got pulled and three weeks later when I was like deciding what kind of an actor I wanted to do if I wanted to be in the industry she in Vegas sent me this audition through it for Lady of birth so it completely was like that wasn't supposed to happen and yeah it was completely was supposed to happen I just finally Killian and this film I feel was the best of Nolan where he lays out everything but he lets you decide what you take from the film so what are you hoping the audiences take from this once it comes up well I agree with you I mean I think all great art asks asks the questions but doesn't give the answers and I think this film does that it's asked the big big moral ethical questions about world about life and death and politics and War um and it provokes you and kind of stimulates you but it's not our job to be prescriptive or didactical phone call where were you what and what did you talk about and ultimately how did you feel I was at home uh I can't remember I was parting around and then it was Emma his wife and producer that called me because he doesn't have a cell phone so she just passed the phone over to Chris and I've got I'm kind of used to this because it's happened to me before and you know you always say yes because it's Chris um but this time he's you know it is very understated kind of British uh I was wondering if we wanted to do available to uh you know we've got this movie going and uh that's pretty much it and uh yeah so it was It was kind of over overwhelming you always hope you get a couple of those calls in your career so I did and then but immediately you start thinking about how much work is involved and I got stuck like I had six that was six months before we started shooting yeah it was six months I would have taken more but it was uh Florence Chris Nolan said that everyone sort of became an expert in their own character um and their motivations I wondered what for you was the most helpful in your research and who she was um I think the I mean despite obviously the the time that you you meet her and obviously she she leaves the storyline there's a very much intense period of time between them meeting each other um their initial getting together their Fallout and so I really um the the stuff that I had to do was very much in that specific tone and I really wanted to see who she was kind of before that and and before her depression really got to her um and she was I mean they have there's pictures of her and him that he's taken of her and she's always like giggling and is very silly and always has hair all over the place and I just thought well yeah how what what is it that has what is it that turned this man's head towards her she must be pretty spectacular and and intelligent and opinionated and um must in some way test him too so I think for me I I really loved kind of uh knowing that about her despite all of the scenes that we then had to do where she obviously wasn't feeling in that certain way um but I I yeah I very much held on to that amazing and Killeen can we talk a little bit bit about working obviously with Florence on that character but also with Emily and and developing those two very different um emotional relationships well you know um the thing about this film is that they're the best actors in the world in my opinion you know I've watched Florence's work for a long time and I think she's absolutely stunning actor and Emily I I'd worked with before in um quiet place too so we were Pals and we knew each other um uh and when you know when you work with great actors you kind of have to you know it raises your game that's an old cliche but it's it's true and this was the ultimate one of those for for the whole cast but yeah in terms of the relationship between the two women it was very very tricky but very important to who he was as an individual because he was so complex and so contradictory and it didn't make sense a lot of his choices moral kind of choices so kind of plotting that was was challenging but when you got to extraordinary actors it makes it easier it's very easy working with really talented like like you know there's lots of people have been asking me what was it like being on set with all of these Giants and saying it's the biggest gift because you barely have to do anything you're just reacting you're just giving back whatever they've given you it's a wonderful gift to be put in rooms like that perhaps absolutely and you got to film in some incredible locations I mean yeah the real the real house the the office of Einstein Einstein what's that like oh amazing because the walls tell stories you know you can feel the vibrations from them you can feel the energy I didn't think about that yeah in the exact space yeah we were in the Oppenheimer house in Los Alamos and uh and then Einstein's office and then and then I was office in Princeton and you know but that's Chris because he's always pushing the performers in to get the closest uh experience that the characters would and again it just you get something for free in those environments I think yeah thank you so much real pleasure to talk to you thank you of course thank you

Channel: Actors

Views: 12,334

Keywords: Cillian Murphy, Interview, Compilation, oppenheimer, 2023, Florence Pugh

Id: tjV5BbzuRMo

Length: 23min 15sec (1395 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 02 2023