Cillian Murphy didn’t just win an Oscar for Oppenheimer—he gave everything to the role. The Irish star went as far as learning 30,000 words of Dutch for a single scene.
Yes, thirty. Thousand. Words. All for a brief moment where J. Robert Oppenheimer lectures overseas. Murphy, known for his intense commitment, spent six months preparing for the film—longer than the actual 57-day shoot.
“You break it down and say, ‘Alright, we need to work on this today,’” he told NBC Insider, explaining his approach. “I used to set aside, ‘I’ll work on this for a week, and I’ll work on that for a week.’” He even got Oppenheimer’s cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema, who is Dutch, to record lines for him. “I got him to record the Dutch into my phone,” Murphy said, using the recordings to perfect his delivery.
His co-stars were in awe. Robert Downey Jr. recalled how Murphy skipped cast outings to stay focused. “We’d say, ‘Hey, we got a three-day weekend. We’ll go antiquing in Santa Fe. What are you going to do?’ ‘Oh, I have to learn 30,000 words of Dutch. Have a nice time,’” Downey told People. “I have never witnessed a greater sacrifice by a lead actor in my career.”
And then there was the brutal diet. Emily Blunt revealed Murphy’s extreme routine to achieve Oppenheimer’s gaunt look. “Cillian had to [remove himself from the antics on set] because he had such a monumental undertaking,” she told Extra. “He could only eat an almond every day because he was so emaciated.”
Murphy’s dedication paid off. His haunting transformation and masterful performance didn’t just earn him critical acclaim—it won him the Academy Award for Best Actor. Looking back, every sacrifice, every skipped meal, and every Dutch phrase memorized was worth it.
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