Cillian Murphy called himself as a “really proud Irishman”, following his victory at the BAFTA Awards last night.
Murphy landed the award for Best Actor at the award’s ceremony for his role in the Christopher Nolan directed Oppenheimer.
In doing so, Murphy also became the first Irish born actor take home the accolade, in a category which included fellow Irish actor and Saltburn star Barry Keoghan.
“I’m a really, really proud Irishman. I have to say that, of course. And it means a lot to me to be Irish”, Murphy said while backstage at the Royal Festival Hall.
The Peaky Blinders star continued, “I don’t know what else to say. Should I sing a rebel song?”.
On the win itself, Murphy also remarked, “It’s a little overwhelming… it’s kind of mind-blowing. I’m thrilled and a little shocked”.
“great reflection”
Elsewhere, Cillian Murphy also revealed that people have even stopped him in the street, to say that they have watched Oppenheimer six or seven times.
“I think it’s (the film) a great reflection on the state of cinema nowadays. You know that this is a very complex, very challenging three-hour R-rated movie about a physicist, about a very kind of dark period in our history, and people came to see it in huge numbers”, he explained.
“People would meet me on the street and say that they’ve seen the film five, six, seven times, and boys and girls, men and women, young and old, and that’s kind of staggering and again very humbling”.
He added, “But it’s, like I said, a great reflection on the state of cinema and I think it’s been a brilliant year for cinema”.
See the full list of BAFTA winners on the night here.
Earlier this month, Cillian Murphy also confirmed that he is to star and produce a new Netflix project, Steve, where he will join forces with Netflix. More on this here.
