Someone recently posted the list of the past ten years of Best Actor Oscar winners, and it shocked me to see that Cillian Murphy was basically only one of three winners who really turned in an iconic, important performance. Cillian also backed up his big Oscar win by… returning to his offbeat, art-house roots and returning to the character Thomas Shelby on Peaky Blinders. Cillian has been promoting the film Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, and he recently chatted with Elle Magazine about the sleep masks, his life after Oppenheimer and his awe for women. Some highlights:
On his wife: “Oh man, she’s right about most things. Women are infinite in their wisdom. I was raised by my mother and my grandmother, who lived with us for all our lives. I have two sisters who are amazing humans. I’ve always felt that women have a more instinctual understanding of right and wrong and how the world works. Even in this TV show and in the film, characters like Ada and Aunt Polly—they know what’s going on. The men are blowing up and shouting and drinking and fighting.
Costars who amazed him: “Two Emilys: Watson and Blunt. Magnificent artists.”
Something he wishes he could do better: “Could we do the whole interview on this? DIY. I’m unbelievably stupid. I don’t think I’ve ever changed a plug. I’ve never changed a tire. I just faff around and get hysterical and can’t do anything. My wife is really good at it all.
Whether he would write a memoir: “There’s enough solipsism in the world now without me adding to that. It will never happen.
His travel must-haves: “One is such a cliché: I like to take my guitar. And then the second is, as a present I got this incredible silk eye mask. It’s this one that wraps around the whole top of your face, all around your ears, completely silk. A lot of times you’ll end up with a room overlooking, you know, a car park, and you’ve got to try to sleep. This thing [is] so outrageously soft. And then I just put in some earplugs and I’m gone.
The idea of Cillian Murphy buying himself a silk sleep mask and really enjoying the hell out of it… I love it. I just looked it up… the high-end silk sleep masks are generally under $100. LOL, I think many people, after winning an Oscar, would buy themselves a new car or a new home or some big-ticket item. Not Cillian – a humble $80 silk sleep mask for when he’s traveling and he’s good to go. As for what he says about women… “Women are infinite in their wisdom…I’ve always felt that women have a more instinctual understanding of right and wrong and how the world works.” I agree? Maybe it’s a nature-versus-nurture debate, but I genuinely believe that (most) girls are born with an inherent sense of fairness and/or justice, for lack of a better word.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
