Cillian Murphy went to great lengths to avoid spoilers for The Dark Knight Rises, including declining to read the script before filming his scenes as Jonathan Crane.
“I remember when you called, you said, ‘You want to read the script?’ and I said, ‘You know what, I don’t actually want to read the script. Just tell me what I’m doing, just tell me what my motivation is, and then I want to see the movie,'” Murphy told Nolan in a conversation with IndieWire. “I didn’t want to spoil it. So I just came in for that one day, did that little bit on that amazing set, and then waited to see the movie. And it was worth it.”
Murphy and Nolan have collaborated on six films, including all three entries in the celebrated Dark Knight series. Their first time working together was on 2005’s Batman Begins, for which Murphy famously auditioned as Bruce Wayne/Batman before landing the role of Dr. Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow instead. Murphy’s audition, now widely available online, also included a costume test in Val Kilmer’s version of the Batsuit from 1995’s Batman Forever.
Cillian Murphy’s Work With Christopher Nolan
“It’s a weird thing,” Murphy said of wearing the Batsuit in March 2020. “You put it on, you put the cowl on, and your voice drops. It drops a couple of octaves.” In May 2021, the actor offered more details on his audition as the Caped Crusader. “I don’t believe I was close to landing that role,” he said. “The only actor who was right for that part at that time, in my estimation, was Christian Bale, and he absolutely smashed it. So, for me, it was just an experience, and then it turned into something else. It turned into that character, Scarecrow, and it turned into a working relationship with Chris.”
Like The Dark Knight Rises, Murphy’s sixth and latest collaboration with Nolan involves a major nuclear detonation. In Universal Pictures’ Oppenheimer, Murphy plays theoretical physicist and father of the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Murphy’s first lead in a Nolan production. The film is Nolan’s first film since leaving Warner Bros. in 2021 and is shaping up to be the director’s longest feature to date at about three hours, surpassing 2014’s Interstellar. Rounding out Oppenheimer‘s expansive and star-studded cast are Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Rami Malek, Casey Affleck, Gary Oldman, Kenneth Branagh and many others.
In line with Nolan’s previous work, Oppenheimer made headlines in December 2022 for using practical effects to recreate the Trinity test, the world’s first atomic bomb detonation in New Mexico. “[We were] looking at how we could do a lot of the visual elements of the film practically,” Nolan revealed, “from representing quantum dynamics and quantum physics to the Trinity test itself, to recreating, with my team, Los Alamos up on a mesa in New Mexico in extraordinary weather, a lot of which was needed for the film, in terms of the very harsh conditions out there — there were huge practical challenges.”
Fans can witness Murphy and Nolan’s latest creation when Oppenheimer opens in theaters on July 21.
Source: IndieWire
#Cillian #Murphy #Refused #Read #Dark #Knight #Rises #Script #Filming #Scarecrows #Return
