Game Of Thrones star Liam Cunningham has reminisced about working with a younger Cillian Murphy as he praised the star’s talent.
Murphy recently won the Oscar for Best Actor for his turn in Oppenheimer, and in the past appeared alongside fellow Irishman Cunningham in a number of projects including The Tale of Sweety Barrett, Breakfast On Pluto and The Wind That Shakes The Barley.
Speaking on RTÉ show Sunday with Miriam, the star was asked whether he spotted Murphy’s talent early on, replying: “I tell you something, as soon as I saw him, I nearly eloped with him! The man is gorgeous!
“He’s incredibly talented,” Cunningham added. “He’s been in the game a long time. I think Sweety Barrett I did with him and Brendan Gleeson – that was one of the first things he did. And then we did Breakfast on Pluto and you saw the transformation of him there.
“I mean, you know, with Oppenheimer, he’s in almost every frame, playing this quite reserved character in a three-hour movie, and most deservedly got the Oscar.”
Cunningham went on to reveal that during a podcast with Eddie Jordan in May last year he predicted last year that Murphy “was going to pick up the Oscar for Best Actor”.
“He’s wonderful,” he continued, before going on to praise the wealth of Irish talent at the moment.
“We’ve a whole list here. Andrew Scott, I was on stage in London with in a Billy Roche play. Look at Paul Mescal, Jessie Buckley. Look where we are with Saoirse Ronan, never mind Gabriel [Byrne] and Liam Neeson, and everyone. Listen, we punch well above our weight.”
It comes after Murphy’s old teacher revealed last week what the actor was like in his younger days, Pat Kiernan admitting he was initially hesitant to cast the star in play Disco Pigs after the actor had finished school.
“I said, ‘He’s a bit of a pig,’ meaning he’s kind of goofy-looking. Clearly I didn’t recognise the beauty of the man,” he told The Times. “Cillian is really smart. Even at that age he was really clever and capable of inhabiting a character. What’s more, it was clear early on just how hard-working he was.”
Murphy admitted in his Oscar speech that he was “a very proud Irishman” and dedicated his award “to the peacemakers everywhere”. His film Oppenheimer won seven awards in total, including Best Picture and Best Director for Christopher Nolan.
In other news, Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight has confirmed that Murphy will return to the role of Tommy Shelby in the upcoming film version of the TV series.