Cillian Murphy’s Batman villain role owed to Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan

Cillian Murphy, set to star in the lead role of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, began his working relationship with the director almost 20 years ago when Nolan ensured Murphy of a role in Batman Begins.

The two first met during early auditions for the movie, and while both men accepted Murphy was not right for the role of Batman, a role eventually taken up by the iconic Christian Bale, Nolan saw Murphy’s talent and wanted him in his movie.

Speaking together for Entertainment Weekly in a recent interview, the two men reflected on their early actor-director relationship, and how Nolan pushed for the budding Irish actor to feature in the new Batman flick.

“We did two scenes — there was a Bruce Wayne scene and a Batman scene — and I made sure that executives came down and watched what you were doing on set,” Nolan said. “Everybody was so excited by watching you perform that when I then said to them, ‘Okay, Christian Bale is Batman, but what about Cillian to play Scarecrow?’ There was no dissent.”

Murphy first saw mainstream success for his role in 28 Days Later, but was propelled into stardom with a role as the lead villain in Batman Begins.

Murphy took up the role of Scarecrow in the movie, the lead antagonist to Christian Bale’s Batman. He subsequently appeared in two sequels to the movie, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, both also directed by Christopher Nolan.

Murphy referred to his Scarecrow character as “The villain who never died”, referring to how the Cork native was always on call if his director needed him to make an appearance.

Nolan added: “He never died, just conveniently would be sort of offscreen somehow. Therefore [I was] able to call you up and say, ‘Come on back and put the sack over your head one last time.’”

Over a near 20 year relationship, the two men share an impressive credits list between them. Oppenheimer will be Murphy’s sixth acting role while working alongside the British-American filmmaker, having also taken up roles in Inception and Dunkirk.

No actor has appeared in more Nolan directed films than the 46-year-old, with Nolan even saying: "If I could cast Cillian in every film I ever do, and just lean on him for the rest of my career, I'd be a happy man."

The upcoming Oppenheimer is a biopic of famous American theoretical physicist Robert J. Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb.

Oppenheimer, starring Cillian Murphy, releases in Irish cinemas on 21st July 2023.