Cillian Murphy is at his strongest when a lowered gaze or a held posture tells us what a man cannot say. We rate his restraint highly, especially when a director trusts him to work without further explanation.
Fi1m perspective
In Small Things Like These (2024), Cillian Murphy’s Bill Furlong watches a mother drag her screaming daughter through a convent gate. His hands stay on the steering wheel. We were shaken by how familiar his inaction felt: Murphy makes Bill look like a man who has practised not getting involved. With his cap down and shoulders drawn in, Bill has learnt to make himself small, and Murphy lets us see how much effort that takes.
That watchfulness already served him well in 28 Days Later (2002), his breakthrough with Danny Boyle. As Jim, he is frightened and uncertain without becoming exhausting company, which matters in a film that keeps interrupting its conversations with attacks. Chris Gill’s editing makes those interruptions jarring, while Murphy keeps us concerned about the person caught in them. The later bloodshed is excessive, but he gives us a reason to stay beyond the deserted London streets.
The supporting roles for Christopher Nolan began with Batman Begins (2005), while Tommy Shelby in Peaky Blinders (2013–2022) gave him a sustained television lead. We would welcome more chances to see him away from troubled, ambiguous men; restraint can become predictable if every part asks for it. But his move into the lead for Nolan’s Oppenheimer (2023) made good use of that familiar quietness.
As J. Robert Oppenheimer, he talks quickly about physics and offers little when the subject is himself. His eyes keep fixing on something outside the frame, and we find that more persuasive than Nolan’s inserts of sparks, ripples and light. Ellen Mirojnick’s loose-hanging suit helps make him look physically diminished even when he is the centre of attention. The sound obscures too much dialogue and the hearings grip less than the desert scenes, but Murphy carries the film without forcing us to notice the effort.
Tim Mielants gives him a smaller setting in Small Things Like These, with Frank van den Eeden’s brown and grey winter light allowing faces to emerge from darkness. Paki Smith’s cramped Furlong kitchen makes Bill’s withdrawn posture feel at home, while Senjan Jansen’s low notes and silences leave Murphy room to work. The film explains Bill’s past more often than his performance needs, a flaw that becomes harder to ignore beside such economical acting. Enda Walsh’s adaptation of Claire Keegan’s novella is strongest when it leaves him something unsaid. For the clearest view of what Murphy can do, start with Bill’s hands on that wheel.
Biography
Cillian Murphy is an Irish actor and producer. He made his professional debut in Enda Walsh's 1996 play Disco Pigs, a role he reprised in the 2001 film adaptation. His early film credits include 28 Days Later (2002).
Murphy has collaborated with director Christopher Nolan on six films, beginning with Batman Begins (2005) and including Oppenheimer (2023), in which he played J. Robert Oppenheimer. He is also known for portraying Thomas Shelby in the series Peaky Blinders (2013–2022). In 2024 he starred as Bill Furlong and served as a producer on Small Things Like These.
Murphy won the Academy Award for Best Actor for Oppenheimer.
