It is an important year for the Oppenheimer team. The film has been leading the nominations in most of the awards and has already grabbed some critical accolades at the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards ceremony. Christopher Nolan’s magnum opus ruled the Oscars 2024 noms as well. Cillian Murphy received his first Oscar nod for portraying the character of J Robert Oppenheimer. Nolan revealed that Murphy’s transformation reminded him of Heath Ledger during his transformation as Joker.
Nolan has been nominated for the prestigious award before, but he might even get it this time. He and Cillian have been working together for years. Murphy played supporting characters in Nolan’s movies, and in Oppenheimer, he got the lead, and it did wonders. The Peaky Blinders star was fully committed to his role, and it showed on screen. He reportedly ate an almond and read Bhagavad Gita while doing the movie. Similarly, Heath was also completely immersed in his character of Joker.
In an interview with Variety, Christopher Nolan opened up about Cillian Murphy’s first Oscar nomination for Oppenheimer. He said, “It was really in the hair and makeup tests, which we shoot on Imax and in black-and-white. You start to see the actor bringing an icon to life, putting the hat on and the cigarette in the corner of his mouth. You’re starting to see how he moves. It’s a thrilling moment. It is on every film.”
Nolan then recalled Heath Ledger’s transformation to Joker in The Dark Knight and compared it to Cillian Murphy’s for Oppenheimer. The celebrated director said, “Seeing Cillian put this iconography together, it reminded me of my hair and makeup tests with Heath Ledger for the Joker.”
This was not the first time Christopher Nolan recalled Heath Ledger; while accepting his Golden Globe this year, he mentioned Heath during his acceptance speech. He revealed tha last time he was on stage was to get the posthumous award received by Heath for The Dark Knight.
However, the netizens weren’t entirely happy about Christopher Nolan comparing Cillian Murphy to Heath Ledger and expressed their displeasure on social media platform X.
One Heath Ledger fan wrote, “Heath was on a different level with joker, just stop making these dumb comments to hype someone.”
Another said, “This is purely an insulting statement towards Heath Ledger and his iconic Joker character. That Cillian Murphy’s Oppenheimer is boring and overrated. Nowadays, boring, overrated social media hype movies get Golden Globes and Oscars. These awards have lost all their prestige.”
One fan praising the Joker actor wrote, “Heath Sacrificed his sanity for a Legendary performance. What a Man.”
Another said, “Imo heath ledgers joker is a legend and nothing can beat it.”
One praising the Oppenheimer maker said, “Chris is not messing around when it comes to his boy..”
Another said, “Can’t compare no role to Heath Ledger’s Joker.”
And a fan said, “Both are brilliant actors.”
Meanwhile, Cillian Murphy is on cloud nine after being nominated in the Best Lead Actor category for his performance in Oppenheimer. He reportedly celebrated the good news in his home in Ireland with a cup of tea and a sponge cake made by his mother. He has already won the Golden Globe and the Critics Choice Award.
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