‘Oppenheimer’ Star Cillian Murphy Says Hollywood Film Press Tours Are A “Broken Model”: “Everybody Is So Bored”

Armando Tinoco
·2 min read
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Cillian Murphy is finishing up his Oppenheimer press tour ahead of the Oscars. The actor is up for an Academy Award in the Best Actor category for his role as the titled character in the Christopher Nolan film.

Murphy got candid in a recent interview for GQ, where he said that junkets and red-carpet interviews to promote a film are outdated.

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“I think it’s a broken model,” he told the magazine of which he graces the cover for the March 2024 issue. “The model is—everybody is so bored.”

The actor said the silver lining of the SAG-AFTRA strike was that the press tours stopped, and Oppenheimer and Barbie were able to pull wins at the box office despite the lack of promotion.

“Same was the case with Peaky Blinders,” he added. “The first three seasons there was no advertising, a tiny show on BBC Two; it just caught fire because people talked to each other about it.”

Murphy quoted Joanne Woodward who said, “Acting is like sex—do it, don’t talk about it.”

“People always used to say to me, ‘He has reservations’ or ‘He’s a difficult interviewee.’ Not really,” he added. “I love talking about work, about art. What I struggle with, and find unnecessary, and unhelpful about what I want to do, is: ‘Tell me about yourself…'”

Murphy also mentioned that he doesn’t watch his own films, particularly “the ones I hear are not good.” One movie he recalled that is not among his favorites is Wes Craven’s 2005 thriller Red Eye.

“I love Rachel McAdams and we had fun making it,” Murphy said. “But I don’t think it’s a good movie. It’s a good B movie.”

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