Cillian Murphy Expresses Gratitude to His ‘Oppenhomies’ Following BAFTA Leading Actor Win: ‘I’m in Awe of You’

LONDON, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 18: Cillian Murphy accepts the Leading Actor Award for ‘Oppenheimer’ during the 2024 EE BAFTA Film Awards, held at the Royal Festival Hall on February 18, 2024 in London, England. Kate Green/BAFTA/Getty Images for BAFTA.

Upon receiving the leading actor BAFTA award, Cillian Murphy extended his appreciation to his fellow “Oppenhomies.”

After acknowledging the film’s director Christopher Nolan, producer Emma Thomas, and Universal Pictures chief Donna Langley, Murphy remarked: “I want to thank my fellow nominees and my Oppenhomies and, in fact, all of you in the room. I know it’s a cliché to say I’m in awe of you, but I genuinely am in awe.”

Murphy portrayed J. Robert Oppenheimer in Nolan’s biographical drama, which garnered seven awards during the ceremony, including best director for Nolan and best film. With a total of 13 nominations, the film delves into the life and endeavors of Oppenheimer as he spearheads the development of the atomic bomb during World War II.

“Thank you for seeing something in me that I probably didn’t see myself,” Nolan expressed to the director while accepting his award. “Chris, thank you for that extraordinary, exhilarating script and for always pushing me and for always demanding excellence.”

“Oppenheimer was this colossally naughty, complex character and he meant different things to different people,” Murphy continued. “One man’s monster is another man’s hero. That’s why I love movies because we have a space to celebrate and interrogate and investigate that complexity. And it’s a privilege to be part of this community with you all.”

In the leading actor category, Murphy faced competition from Bradley Cooper in “Maestro,” Colman Domingo in “The Rustin,” Paul Giamatti in “The Holdovers,” Barry Keoghan in “Saltburn,” and Teo Yoo in “Past Lives.”

Murphy, previously a 2007 nominee for the BAFTA Rising Star award, earned a leading actor nomination at the 2023 BAFTA TV Awards for his role in “Peaky Blinders.” His nomination for leading actor at the Oscars for his portrayal in “Oppenheimer” marks his first at the BAFTA Film Awards. The Irish actor is also nominated for leading actor at the Oscars for his role in “Oppenheimer.”

“Cillian Murphy, with a thousand-yard beam, the half-smile of an intellectual rake, and a way of keeping everything close to the vest, gives a phenomenal performance as Oppenheimer, making him fascinating and multi-layered,” wrote Owen Gleiberman about Murphy’s performance in his review of the film for Variety. “His ‘Oppie’ is an elegant mandarin who’s also a bit snakelike — at once a cold prodigy and an ardent humanist, an aristocrat and a womanizer, a Jewish outsider who becomes a consummate insider, and a man who oversees the invention of nuclear weapons without a shred of doubt or compunction, only to confront the world he created from behind a defensive shield of guilt that’s a lot less self-aware.”

Despite the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon of last summer, after both “Oppenheimer” and “Barbie” landed the same July release date, Greta Gerwig’s movie failed to secure a single award at the BAFTAs. Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro” similarly received no recognition.