Cillian Murphy: “Christopher Nolan? I trust him absolutely”

Meeting with one of the actors of Dunkirk, who has since found the filmmaker for Oppenheimer.

At 9:05 p.m., France 3 will rebroadcast Dunkirk. Met in March 2017, the Irishman with the angular face Cillian Murphy knows a lot about Christopher Nolan. This war film represented their fifth collaboration, and they have since returned to success thanks to Oppenheimerin which Cillian played the lead role for the first time at home.

To wait until this evening, we are sharing our interview with Cillian again, supplemented with other interviews with the actor and the director, who have met again since.

We don't even see you in the first five minutes of the film. Who do you play?
It's going to be complicated: I haven't seen the prologue that we showed you, and I haven't even seen the official trailer. Anyway, I don't really want to talk to you about my role because with Chriswe have this sort of agreement which consists of not talking too much about the films beforehand. It's always better to let the viewer live the experience without them knowing what to expect. It's not even about spoilers… I understand that the trailer already shows too much.

It's an ensemble film, without really a main hero, how do we manage to exist on screen among this gallery of characters?
I just tried to play my role, to do the job. Chris and I have worked together for many years now. I trust him absolutely. On DunkirkI just waited for his phone call and then we discussed the role. As per usual…

Except that here, the film marks a break with his previous works and precisely for the writing of characters whose past is never mentioned. How did you manage to bring it to life?
The script is like a map…. Watching a Chris film, spectators see absolutely everything that comes from the script: there are no cut scenes with him, no reshoots. Everything is shot because he knows exactly what he wants, where he wants to go and what he wants to show. For this film, I documented myself, I read a lot about Operation Dynamo to know the context of these events. I wanted to understand the emotional and psychological stages the soldiers went through. Not the backstories, but the emotions. I don't really believe in backstories. On the screen you see the characters, this one is a kid, that one is a soldier and the other is a general… No need to know if something is married and has children or if something is good at math! What matters is to be fair, to be true when you play because that's what makes people believe in it.

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There is the Sea-Earth-Sky trinity in the film. Which side are you on?
The sea, undoubtedly. It's funny because in my family, on my mother's side more precisely, we worked in the merchant navy so I like being on the ocean. I also acted in the film about Moby Dicke Ron Howard…The only problem obviously is bad weather but Chris loves it – shooting in bad weather. When we were filming Inception, terrible storms disrupted the filming and Chris was never afraid: he is not afraid. Even by the elements (smile).

In Peaky Blinders you also play as a soldier. Did this experience help you with the composition of your character in Dunkirk ?
I've played soldiers a few times, yes. Tommy [Shelby, le personnage qu’il incarne dans la série, ndlr] was very affected by the First World War. I also played a soldier recently in Anthropoida film about the Second. I think I've had to play soldier roles five times so far, but each time the challenge is to put yourself in the skin of the character and go through what he's been through. Then try to understand the mechanics and play it as honestly as possible. It is also important to read about post-traumatic shock or shell shock [un trouble psychique dont ont été atteints certains soldats dans les tranchées durant la Première Guerre Mondiale, ndlr] to perfect the character.

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When researching Operation Dynamo, did you try to attach yourself to a real character?
Not really no… There is no real historical figure in the film, just anonymous people, ordinary soldiers. I read letters and logbooks to get my bearings, but that's all.

You filmed in the same conditions, the same beach and at the same time as this conflict, how did that make you feel?
In fact, my part is different from that of the other actors and was filmed exclusively in Holland. Everything takes place on a boat, a Moonstone and the scenes were not shot in Dunkirk. That said, I went there to see what it was like. It's strange. Life has resumed its rights: people are walking with their children or their dogs… There is no pilgrimage or sanctuary and yet, we can still feel what happened: the blood that sank, the bombs that streaked the sky… It's a bit of a crazy place.

Does World War II mean anything to you?
I'm not a history fanatic but stories interest me. World War II was a global war and all nations were involved. There was Nazism, Adolf Hitler and fascism… I feel like it was clear who were the bad guys and who were the good guys. Today it's more complicated… We control small computers that kill people remotely… Everything is mechanized. It is undoubtedly hindsight that allows this, but the Second War is much easier to describe because we see the moral issues in a much clearer and clearer manner.

Christopher Nolan: “Oppenheimer is the most conceptual film I have ever made”

Trailer for Dunkirk:

How Nolan took inspiration from a scene from The Dark Knight Rises for Dunkirk