Cillian Murphy On The “Electrifying” But “Terrifying” Moment He Was Asked To Star In ‘Oppenheimer’ – Contenders Film L.A.

deadline.com:

Cillian Murphy had to “sit down for a moment” and gather his thoughts when he received the out-of-the-blue call from director and longtime collaborator Christopher Nolan about playing the lead in his epic biographical thriller Oppenheimer.

Murphy said during Deadline’s Contenders Film: Los Angeles panel for the Universal film, “I knew it was a big one, but it was absolutely kind of electrifying feeling but also terrifying, but that’s the place I always want to be when I’m making work – I don’t ever want it to feel easy or safe, but this was a biggie and I knew it was a huge responsibility and a huge amount of work.” Murphy plays the titular complicated and brilliant physicist tasked with leading the Manhattan Project, the secret effort to create the atom bomb.  RELATED: The Contenders Film: Los Angeles – Deadline’s Full Coverage The story plays out in an unusual first-person approach, with a moral conundrum gathering in Oppenheimer’s head as he begins to envision the dangers beyond a short-term use of a weapon that could — and did — spark an arms race and a new world order that changed us forever.  RELATED: ‘Oppenheimer’ Review: Christopher Nolan’s Epic Thriller About Father Of The Atomic Bomb Is As Frightening As It Is Brilliant The movie has been a worldwide hit with $949.8 million in global box office leading into this weekend.

Oppenheimer launched in Nolan’s preferred July slot and became part of the zeitgeist with the Barbenheimer phenomenon that followed, but regardless the career-best box office success is nothing short of an astounding feat for a three-hour R-rated drama.

Murphy was joined at Contenders by producer Emma Thomas, costume designer Ellen Mirojnick, Jamie Leigh McIntosh of the hair department and