Cillian Murphy Follows ‘Oppenheimer’ With Irish Drama ‘Small Things Like These’

Cillian Murphy he didn’t read “Little Things Like These” I’m looking for a film to make. He was simply a fan of the author, Claire Keegan.

Her Booker Prize-nominated story was a work of historical fiction about The Magdalene Laundries of Ireland and an ordinary man with repressed trauma who can’t bring himself to look away from Christmas 1985. The beauty of the prose and the complexity of the themes lingered in Murphy’s mind. The Irish actor had also considered starting his own production company. Miraculously, the rights were available.

As a nod to the film, which opens in North American theaters on Friday, Murphy and his producing partner Alan Moloney have named their company Big Things Films.

“I was like, if you call it Small Things Films, it shows a real lack of ambition,” Murphy said with a laugh. “We thought we’d better call it Big Things Films.”

“Small Things Like These” was made after “Oppenheimer” but before winning the Oscarwhich Murphy is still working on. Work keeps him busy, though. His company already has another film in post-production, “Steve,” based on Max Porter’s novel “Shy.” And in September, he began filming the movie “Peaky Blinders.”

Murphy spoke to The Associated Press before heading to “Peaky Blinders” about being a “serial re-collaborator,” the humbling and passive experience of winning the Oscar and launching. Matt Damon the film during a night shoot at “Oppenheimer”. Remarks have been edited for clarity and brevity.

AP: What made you want to see Claire’s book as a movie?

MURPHY: It’s a seemingly simple story, but it’s actually incredibly complex in the way it talks about society and complicity and shame and guilt and secrecy and fear and all those things. I felt it had a lot to offer the audience.

AP: And as an actor, what opportunities did you see with your character?

MURPHY: It’s a male protagonist written by a woman, but it’s a story about women. It was quite interesting and unconventional. And the story really begins when the movie ends. The real drama happens after that. And I think it’s so unconventional and quite radical. The reason Bill is the man he is is because of what happened to him as a child and this act of charity that his mother experienced. And then these horrific acts of cruelty that the other girls experience – that’s what brings him to this place in his life.

Claire actually said on a podcast, someone said “oh that’s such a heroic act” and she said “no, he’s not a hero, he’s just someone having a nervous breakdown”. I thought he was very smart. And that’s kind of how I tried to play.

It all comes back, as it does with men, in middle age. They begin to really feel their mortality and have children of their own. Then everything seems to come crashing down on them. And it’s so beautifully observed by Claire and Enda (Walsh).

AP: There are a lot of people involved in this film that you’ve worked with before, from the director, Tim Mielants (“Peaky Blinders”) to your friends the “Disco Pigs” (playwright Enda Walsh and actor Eileen Walsh, who plays Bill’s wife). Why did you turn to them?

MURPHY: I’m kind of a serial re-collaborator. I love working with people again. And I strongly believe that you get the best work out of trust and friendship. Enda I’ve worked with in a theater four or five times and he’s generally brilliant. I knew she loved Claire’s book and would understand that world. And Eileen, it’s very hard to act 20 years of history, but when you have 28 years of history, you get it for free. She is just a phenomenally strong actor. She can do anything.

AP: Matt Damon is also a producer through Artists Equity. How did this happen?

MURPHY: My production partner was working with Matt on the U2 documentary about Sarajevo, and I was working with Matt on “Oppenheimer.” It was a pincer movement. I remember it was like a night shot in the desert somewhere and I was waiting for the rain to pass or the lights to fix. And he was telling me about The Capital of Artists. I said okay, I happen to have this script and I gave it to him. It tastes so great. He is such a great director and actor, just a legend and just a lovely human being. He just really understands stories like this. And immediately he said, yes, we are on our way.

AP: You feel like it Win the Oscar and “Oppenheimer” success did it help this film gain more interest from US distributors in any way?

MURPHY: I’m not aware of it, really, because it feels so new and so fresh. You know, it’s really hard to talk about it because it’s been an extremely humbling experience and almost passive because you have no control over other people voting for the work that you’ve done. But if it allows us to tell the kind of stories that I want to tell, that have a point, that have something to say, then I’ll take it.