Cillian Murphy's extreme Oppenheimer diet was apparently 'an almond a day'
"I don't advise it"
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Cillian Murphy's co-star Emily Blunt says the actor "lived off an almond a day" while filming the World War II biopic.
Irish actor Cillian Murphy takes his craft very seriously. He's somewhat of a method actor, but for his latest film Oppenheimer, we have to wonder if he took it too far.
In a recent interview with Extra, his co-stars Emily Blunt and Matt Damon shared the shocking and dangerous extremes their "emaciated" lead went to in a bid to portray scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer, the creator of the atomic bomb.
Blunt, who plays his onscreen wife Kitty Oppenheimer, said, "He had such a monumental undertaking. And he could only eat, like, an almond every day," she said.
"He was so emaciated."
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Not only was the 47-year-old trying to emulate his character, who apparently lived off nicotine and little to no food, but he was under an immense amount of pressure from the film's director, Christopher Nolan, Damon explained.
"The sheer volume of work that he had, and the level of detail that Christopher [Nolan] demands...there was always something for him to be thinking about."
Murphy himself admitted, "I was running on crazy energy; I went over a threshold to where I was not worrying about food or anything. I was so in it, a state of hyper-something. But it was good because the character was like that. He never ate."
In an interview with The New York Times, the father-of-two said, "I love acting with my body, and Oppenheimer had a very distinct physicality and silhouette, which I wanted to get right.
"I had to lose quite a bit of weight, and we worked with the costume and tailoring; he was very slim, almost emaciated," he added. "He had these really bright eyes and I wanted to give him this wide-eyed look, so we worked on his silhouette and expressions a lot before starting."
In a cast interview with People, Blunt said Murphy wouldn't join his co-stars for dinner, but she insists it wasn't for diet purposes, he was simply stressed.
"The sheer volume of what he had to take on and shoulder is so monumental," she said. "Of course, he didn't want to come and have dinner with us."
Trying to justify the whole almond thing, Damon added, "He couldn't. His brain was just too full."
Murphy told the outlet the "responsibility" to nail the part became "overwhelming."
In another chat with IndieWire, he refused to detail exactly how much weight he dropped for the part, but did confess, "I don't advise it."
That's something we can all agree on.
Originally published as Cillian Murphy's extreme Oppenheimer diet was apparently 'an almond a day'