Cillian Murphy’s son is set to make his film acting debut this year.
16-year old Aran has been acting from a young age. At 11, he starred as the titular character in Hamnet in a production that toured Dublin, London, New York, Boston, Brisbane and Hong Kong.
In 2022, he also starred in the 2022 film Lola alongside Emma Appleton from The Witcher. His upcoming new film will be his first feature.
Directed by Taika Waititi, Klara and the Sun will see Aran will play a character called Rick. The film, which is based on a New York Times bestselling novel of the same name, follows a robot girl who tries to save a heartbroken family.
Also starring in the film is Jenna Ortega and Amy Adams. Wednesday’s Ortega will star as robot Klara; Adams will play her mother in the film.
Last month, Cillian Murphy shared his reaction to receiving his first ever Oscar nomination for his role in Oppenheimer.
Cillian will be up for the Oscar for Best Actor alongside Bradley Cooper, Colman Domingo, Paul Giamatti and Jeffrey Wright. It was one of 13 nominations Oppenheimer picked up, leading the pack ahead of Poor Things, Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie.
Murphy told Deadline that when he found out about the nomination, he was at his parents’ house in Ireland and was “sitting around having tea” before “the phone started popping”.
“I feel really privileged and I feel really lucky to be in a film that’s connected with people in a way that it has critically and commercially,” he said. “To be in a film that people have seen three and four and five times and they come up to you and tell you that…”
When asked if he’s processed the enormity of an Oscar nomination and what he might have thought when he was starting out, he added: “I don’t think you would have believed it or seen it as a possibility or anything like that; I just wanted to make theatre and make good theater, and then you do a small part in a short film and then a small part in a film — we’ve talked about this really gradual process and I think that’s why I’m able to deal with it and able to enjoy it.
“I’m like 48 and I’ve seen a lot and been doing it for 28 years now, so I think I can understand how significant it is to me and how meaningful it is to me and to other people… You know, it’s been a long time in the business. I think as a youngster it just didn’t seem a possibility anything like this.”