Cillian Murphy was a starving artist on the set of Oppenheimer… Literally.
As fan expectations continue to peak ahead of Christopher Nolan’s latest entry into his acclaimed filmography, the cast of Oppenheimer have been making their press junket rounds — well, at least up until the SAG strike. But we got some interesting nuggets before that.
Related: Oppenheimer Stars WALK OUT Of Premiere As SAG Goes On Strike!
During an interview with ExtraTV earlier this month, Emily Blunt spilled on what dieting looked like for the film’s lead. The Edge of Tomorrow star, who plays Cillian’s onscreen wife, opened up about the star’s “monumental undertaking” when it came to prepping for his role. She drew parallels to how Meryl Streep removed herself from “the antics on set” of 2006’s The Devil Wears Prada in order to stay in her character’s headspace, much like what she claimed Cillian “had to do” for Oppenheimer:
“He had such a monumental undertaking.”
From everything we’ve seen, we totally believe it! But staying in character wasn’t the only feat the Dunkirk star had to tackle — apparently, he had to severely restrict his diet in order to carve out a similar figure to that of the real J. Robert Oppenheimer. Blunt explained:
“[Cillian] could only eat, like, an almond every day. He was so emaciated.”
DAMN! Now that’s commitment to a role… He’s giving Yolanda Hadid a run for her money, LOLz!
Matt Damon, who was also present for the interview, added:
“The sheer volume of work that he had, and the level of detail that Chris demands, like, there was always something for [Cillian] to be thinking about. There was something coming down the pike.”
Wow. Our anticipation is seriously at an all time high!
Related: RHONJ‘s Milania Giudice Lost 40 LBS In 2 Months After Teresa Food-Shamed Her!
Cillian previously opened up about his Oppenheimer diet in a May interview with The New York Times, in which he reflected on pushing his body to mirror the father of the atomic bomb’s:
“I love acting with my body, and Oppenheimer had a very distinct physicality and silhouette, which I wanted to get right. I had to lose quite a bit of weight, and we worked with the costume and tailoring; he was very slim, almost emaciated, existed on martinis and cigarettes.”
Well, according to Blunt, he achieved that “emaciated” look. However, the Batman Begins star does not “advise” such extreme dieting for anyone, telling The Guardian earlier this month:
“You become competitive with yourself a little bit which is not healthy. I don’t advise it.”
In the same interview, Cillian declined to reveal which foods his nutritionist recommended he cut out, or exactly how much weight he lost:
“I don’t want [the headlines] to be, ‘Cillian lost X weight for the part.’”
We respect his dedication to the role! But yeah, we obviously don’t advise the dieting technique either. After all, you don’t want to look “emaciated” — and trust us, it won’t give you Cillian Murphy’s cheekbones either!
Reactions, Perezcious readers? Will YOU be showing up when Oppenheimer explodes onto screens this week? (Or will you be too busy seeing Barbie??) Let us know in the comments down below!
[Images via ExtraTV & Universal Pictures/YouTube]
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