Cillian Murphy & Margot Robbie | Actors on Actors

franchise for the first time. with Batman Begins and obviously he achieved it, but I think he's refining and refining his kind of vision and how he wants to tell the kinds of stories he wants and how he wants to present them, you know, like moving to IMAX and you know, the first direct that starts filming always in large format. I think it was a dark night where I think the opening sequence at the beginning I think in IMAX you remember when Heath breaks into the bank and everything I think is in IM I actually think is like that.

I could be wrong. I think it's one of the first times he started using it, but since at Oppenheimer we used it almost all the time, yeah, and they come at you, it's like a movie. I mean, those cameras are so heavy, yeah, so loud, so loud, so heavy. Have you worked with them with IMAX? No, it is but I know it films in IMAX. and always in the movie, so imagine getting a shot longer than 4 minutes, those magazines must be huge, they are huge and our amazing cinematographer carried it everywhere, as I remember in Dunkirk, we were like on a boat in the middle of the ocean and ah, whatever the thing is and its shoulder and it's like these beautifully composed shots, but to answer your question, I don't know, I guess as you get older you become a little more confident in the kinds of stories that you want to tell and I guess you know that I've learned a lot working with Chris in terms of focus, rigor and dedication.

I think we have similar tastes and I think he may have helped form my kind of taste, but before that I even worked with him on the movies he had done before Batman Begins, which he was a fan of and he just wanted you to meet him and that happens. often, isn't it like fans of directors and then you meet them and the next thing you know you're working with them and it's a little crazy because you were at home watching their movies as a kid. I don't know if it happens often, but when it happens it's like magic, this is really amazing.

I'm sure that's happened to you. I've gotten closer to people I really want to work with. Yes I do. I wrote letters. And yes, the cards thing works. I have to say it. I mean, sometimes it works. But sometimes yes, people appreciate a handwritten letter that you are willing to write. I believe in that, yes. I feel like I don't like playing lead roles because I feel like you have more responsibility and as a supporting role you can do something like that. be a little wilder and yeah, I don't know, I avoid playing lead roles. I haven't done it much, not where my character is the name of the movie, only I've done that, you really felt that feeling. oh, I have to carry the weight of this story because I'm playing Oppenheimer and the movie is Oppenheimer or you approached it, it felt the same as when you worked with him on other cases, no, it felt different, um.

Like he called me out of the blue because it's never like I didn't know, I didn't even know I was writing it, so he called me out of the blue or Emma Thomas, his wife, the producer, she called me because Chris didn't. I didn't have phone, so he put me in touch with Chris and he told me in his British way, you know, very low key. You know, he was doing this part-time movie that I like to play the part in, so it was like Wham came out of nowhere, luckily he was there. I was unemployed at the time, I just finished something, I wasn't doing anything, but then I realized it was different from the other work I had done with him because it was the story of Oppenheimer's life and then when he finally gave me the script.

It was written in first person, something I'd never read before, so the script was written in first person, yeah, like the big print was like I'm looking, I'm going to put the cup down and towards the door exactly which I had never seen before. read before, so it was very clear that I wanted it to be a truly subjective narrative, you know, and that added to the response the feeling of oh, this is a very important thing, but then I knew. Well, I was going to populate it with all these extraordinary

actors

and the thing about all those roles is that they are all characters of important importance, you know, they are very transcendental characters in the story and in the movie, you know, we put all these extraordinary ones.

actors

in Yeah, they were bunkers every time I was like oh, you know, Gary Alman is going to show up and you know we got Downey to play straws, but I guess what I'm trying to say is that you felt very, very supported and safe in that, you know because you knew share the load a little bit completely, yeah, it felt lovely and I and I think I've developed a short time with Chris over the years like we understood each other, I think we shared a similar kind of taste or approach to storytelling he's a master he's a master filmmaker why you love working with him and why you think he loves working with you you have to ask him I'm going to be very humble and be like me I don't know why he likes me.

I can't understand it, but I don't know, I mean, guess with Chris, you see, it's just the work, like he's not interested in anything but the work and the movie. and he's incredibly focused, he's incredibly rigorous, is that true? He wears a suit every day to sit down. He wears a very similar outfit every day, but you know, the reason I think that's the way it is and I think it makes sense to me is because he's one. I know that as a director you have so many decisions Greta wore a jumpsuit every day she had five one A different one for each day of the week she was like it was a single piece of clothing she has pockets so I can put my notebook and pens all that and she said : "It's just that it's a decision I don't have to make and I have to make a thousand today, take that off the board, yeah, and then while we were filming I went to the Churchill War Museum and saw that he Winston CH did the same as him, like this jumpsuit, and I was like, G, it makes a lot of sense, it makes a lot of sense and I imagine if she wore something different on set, it would freak you out, I mean, if totally Chris went into a I don't know Hawaiian. , it would scare me, I wouldn't be able to concentrate, uh, I don't think the team would, yeah, so I think it's a sensible choice actually and preparing for the role, what's your career preparation process like?

I mean, I don't know? you guys, but I'll take all I can with this one, it was six months from when he called me to when we started filming and I would have taken, I would have taken another one. six months if I could have gotten it when he called you and told you a movie about Oppenheimer, did you like gotcha or were you like B? I don't know anything about it. I knew something very basic. uh, you know, Wikipedia level, no. I knew about the Trinity tests and I knew you knew about the Manhattan Project and then obviously what happened second in 45, but I didn't know what happened next or anything like that, yeah, yeah, so you read a lot to prepare, what Do you like walking more? walking around my basement talking to myself you really record yourself sometimes I do um not only if I'm doing things in dialect yeah, but I also prepare like a psychopath is the only way, right?

For as long as I can remember, I started making a roll and then Co happened and I ended up making the roll for like a year and it was like I lost my mind at the end, my husband came in and I was like making weird masks and stuff and I was like covered in painting, he says, what are you doing? and I was like, I think I've gone too far with this character, we need this to end, I need to get on set, it's the Although I think this is the only way because then I can walk on set and be totally free, but if not Had I prepared like I did, I would be as terrified as when I hear other actors like I look at their script and there's nothing written in it.

I'm like you'd be so terrified if I didn't have a billion notes and thoughts because then I'd be having all those thoughts on set instead of exactly and I think you know when getting on time is your greatest asset, as you know, and the last thing What you want to do is figure it out, you have every second that counts, so you want to figure it all out, yeah, before and then park it, you know? um and Chris is the king of prep and you know, I don't know if Gret is the same, but he has a team that he's worked with forever and HS that he's worked with forever, so you know how he works and he. he prepares with those guys for a long time, so when we get on set it's like it's fast, yeah, and it's really really fast, and he just expects excellence from everyone and yeah, which I think everyone, everyone, the best . do and I think everyone understands that it is something unspoken, right?

I thought if I could find a way to combine physics and New Mexico, my life would be perfect and tell me about casting your movie and then what was your kind of goal or plan for when it was when you were casting, so what was you? I mean, most people's names were written in the script like I was Bobie Margo and I said Ken Ryan, like everyone you know. Greta expressed the cast that she obtained and everyone was very interested in doing it. um and a lot of people signed up to do a long movie where they have a pretty small role and the agents said why would we let our client be busy for so long and for so much screen time, but you know their clients would. ? be like no, I want to do it, I want to work with these people and I want to work with Greter and we just said from the beginning, let's have a massive dance party, let's invite everyone and it was like that, it was so much fun. every day was a lot of fun and we played music and danced more like the team chose everyone we like to dance in the morning just to attract everyone.

It was a lot of fun because we were filming in sheets and other movies like the fast movie like Fast 10 or whatever they would like to come and they like the SWAT team like what's going on here and we're like it's Barbie land come on in and you know people were gravitating towards the set. because they and you know our actors, they all came on days when they weren't even working because just to hang out because it was so much fun, like you wanted to be there with everyone and it was such a good group. I think you can feel that in the moment.

I think those things definitely transfer over and I think everything filters down from the top, like whatever mood the director sets, it filters into everything and Greta is just established as the majority. It's like a happy space. I can't speak for the other sets of hers. I wasn't in them, but I mean, she's so joyful and supportive and exciting, and she's just brilliant and you can feel that and I don't know. I always think about that. like um, it's like when little kids can sense that their parents are angry or frustrated, even if the parents are like, I'm fine, but they're banging the plates, you know a kid is going to be a little nervous even if they don't understand it. , they're like, you know, yeah, that happens on a film set like I've seen it happen where you can feel everyone tense up because you know your director or someone else in a position where you know it's important. he's giving that Vibe and suddenly everyone's a little apprehensive and that's and we just didn't need that, yeah, Vibe has to come from the top, doesn't it?

Maybe that would work for some moves, but it wasn't going to work for Yeah, I don't enjoy it, it's just not funny, even though I can't go to work, I don't know if you're going to be vulnerable. I feel like you need a place you trust and care about, yes, coming back. to the prep question, do you work with an acting coach or a dialect coach or as a movement coach or do you do any of that kind of stuff? Did you train to be an actor? No, no, you didn't train to be an actor, um no.

I started doing theater when I was 20, yeah, and then I did a ton of theater for about four years exclusively and then I started getting little roles in movies, but I used a dialect coach on this one because the voice was so specific. Now we weren't trying to make an impression. I'm not. Really I can not. It's not in my wheelhouse to make Impressions. I don't have that ability and you know, with accents, for me it's necessary. It's like going to the gym. Your mouth, you know what I mean, takes a long time. Australian mouths are the laziest, literally, like a workout in the gym, but you Americans do it so brilliantly every time because we have to like building muscles, well, you must like, yes, building muscles . your mouth to do an American accent I really thought it might be closer in ton or sort of tomra or ton or I think also because we grow up seeing so many American things that Australians like between our soft and hard palette that we have. 1cm space.

Americans have three, so only an American mouth has more room. Oh W, and because of that we use our lips more and our tongues are lazy, so when you do an accent you're developing that muscle and Creating that space that's why I think it would be harder to be an American with an Australian accent because I don't know how You have all that space and all that muscle in your mouth and suddenly you want to make it weak and small. I know that would be very difficult. Nais always makes it brilliantly American. I think that's good.

I love when I hear that we have a good reputation. Well, you certainly do. The Irish have a great reputation. Butreal, a lot of it was like Oppenheimer's house where we filmed in New Mexico, it was actually where he actually lived, yeah, with Kitty, so when Emily and I were filming there, you know how good Emily is. Aston the movie, so I think she can do anything. Emily. I would see her in anything. I don't need to listen. No. I don't need a log line I don't need a title If I see shoes on it, I'm like I'm in.

I'm going to love it, she's so charming, mind-blowing, but yeah, you filmed in New Mexico, where else? Yeah, and I think you can feel the kind of sounds like cliche or cheesy or something, but I feel like you can feel the vibes. in the room. I feel like they transfer to the character. I feel like we have an extra level there. of connection or respect for the environment or the characters, particularly if they're real-life characters who actually live there, yeah, yeah, and we filmed in Oppenheimer's office in Princeton, which was right next to Einstein's office. in the actual location and there were a lot of Those cases where you feel like you know it's Goose, you get goosebumps, you know I'm not a superstitious person or anything, but no, you feel I saw it, yeah, Chris wanted that and, for example, the last sequence of the film, you know?

Well, well, it goes back and forward, but you know, the whole big audience at the end that was in this shitty little bureaucratic room somewhere outside of Los Angeles and we were all there and it was so hot, we were all crammed into this room. . This huge IM C, you know, we could have easily built it into a big stage and taken out the walls. Chris wanted it to look claustrophobic, yeah, you know, kind of a horrible feeling that you would have had in one of those rooms and they deliberately wanted it. putting him in a room like that to make him feel worthless and pointless and degrading him and it worked yeah can I ask something off topic?

Sure, in my opinion, there are two types of people in this. In the world, there are people who are obsessed with blinders and then there are people who haven't seen blinders. I obviously feel in the first category, so can we talk about Tommy Shelby for just a minute, sure, if you want, yeah, what? It was like oh, I mean, it was years and years of your life, yeah, it's like 10, that was 10e too. Adventure we started filming at the end of 2012, it's so crazy, yeah, I love the song that plays at the end of the last one. season for tired horses yeah Lis O'Neal I love that song so much it's on my crying playlist like a cry on set where Dylan sang and she took it and it's so good yeah I love it she It's special, will there be one? a spin-off movie, I mean, I'm open to the idea.

I've always thought that if there's more story to tell in this, of course, there's no story to tell, well, we'll see, I mean about horseback riding. And now who knows? I guess please do it, please, well, that's very nice of you to say. I mean, I'm totally open to the idea, but you know, I also think it was kind of perfect. I know, um, six seasons. I know and we did it, you don't want to screw it up right, sometimes it's hard to go to film format and I can. I like the ambiguity of the ending, but I'm always open to liking a great script.

I know who wouldn't be so good. People come up to you all the time a lot, yeah, a lot and say "Tommy for jel", they do, yeah, yeah, and if you lost a lung smoking all those cigarettes, it wasn't great, but sure. They did upim and it's like a pipe and I literally thought I was seeing it. I thought we had to see a doctor. He is smoking. He has smoked so many cigarettes. He thinks of those herals. Now they also have a warning about herbaria. They, yeah, can't you win? You know, so if people yell at me, Tommy Shelby, it's inevitable that people will I imagine yell at you, but they might say, "Hey Barbie or whatever"?

That's what happens with many tall Barbies. Yeah, it's funny because the waving thing wasn't that big and then on set it got bigger and more ridiculous to the point where it was like the waving thing was like Barbie had to be so serious. that she's almost an idiot she's like but you're kind of like oh but I still like you and kind of say hello really like really just summarize that and so we just kept doing it and doing it and then Greta actually made a meal of hello Bobby hello Bobby hello Ken hi Ken hi you know all that then hi Allan and yes now people on the street say hello to Bobby a lot I probably like him I'd rather people shout that at me than other things so this is true I'll take it for the rest of your life for the rest of my life and tell me, speaking of which, do you feel like there's a sequel in the works?

If you ask me about a Pey movie, ask that, cousin. I asked you the same thing as you. We put everything into that movie and it's so good that I was like oh no and I was also very proud of the fact that it wasn't like an original. I'm sorry it was original, it wasn't a sequel, prequel or remake, which is increasingly rare these days and your film is original too and it's amazing that we both had these great theatrical opportunities for original ideas, yeah that part of me I almost thought, oh no, if we do a Barbie too, then I just don't know, but at the same time I would do anything to get back on that set and I'll do anything to be on set with Greter again and with Ryan again. and playing bobie again like playing bobie is the best it's so happy so again if it were like that you're not saying it it's not no no no no but it would also take a lot for it to live up to what the boys were right up there yeah hi barbie hi barbie hi barbie hi barbie hi barbie hi barbie hi barbie obviously now i've revealed that i'm a big fan of yours not just peak blinders , I also love your story about sleep. the Cal app and everything you've done very well too.

I mean, it's crazy that after all this, this is literally the first time I'm seeing you. Yes, in the same way, it has not been a very formal environment. I know it, I know it well. It's nice to chat. here Maro I hope it's not the last time exactly exactly