Oppenheimer: The One Line From Nolan That Changed Cillian Murphy's Performance

Now a couple of decades into his celebrated career behind the camera, Christopher Nolan's name is regularly listed among cinematic masters like Stanley Kubrick, Steven Spielberg, and Martin Scorsese. And if early reactions to Nolan's latest film "Oppenheimer" — a historical thriller about the titular physicist's development of the atomic bomb — are any indication, esteem for the filmmaker is only going to grow.

Nolan has long been recognized as one of cinema's greatest stylists, and his compelling, if sometimes confounding, narrative ingenuity is renowned as much by audiences as it is his contemporaries. Nolan is, perhaps, slightly less regarded for his work with actors. Despite that, A-listers continue vie for even the smallest roles in his films. And to hear Cillian Murphy tell it, Nolan is actually one of those rare sort of directors who's capable of altering the course of an entire performance with as little as a single line of direction.

Per Murphy's comments during a recent Fandango interview, that's precisely what happened early in the "Oppenheimer" shoot. "It was early on, and I think I came on a bit heavy in that scene," Murphy recounted, adding, "and you [acknowledging Nolan] said to me, 'Cill, he's not a boxer, he's a chess player." As Murphy noted, the simple, yet direct note from Nolan altered the way he portrayed his character for the rest of the production. And by some accounts, it contributed to the actor delivering one of the finest performances of his career.

Cillian Murphy recounted that story at the behest of his "Oppenheimer" co-star Matt Damon, who was quick to add that such brilliantly pointed direction is invaluable as, "it gives you total permission as an actor to just let the whole thing come to you." Murphy then doubled-down on how game-changing Nolan's words can be, claiming, "It can just turn an entire performance on its own." He then lovingly nudged Nolan and said, "You're pretty good at that."

Murphy would know, of course, as he's been working with Nolan for the better part of the past two decades, appearing in five of his films prior to taking the lead role in "Oppenheimer." A trio of those collaborations came in Nolan's "Dark Knight Trilogy," with Murphy portraying the nefarious Dr. Jonathan Crane (aka Scarecrow). Murphy also played a key role in Nolan's 2010 stunner "Inception," and turned up for a small supporting role in Nolan's time-twisting WWII drama "Dunkirk."

The beloved actor is understandably getting a significant bump in screen time leading the three-hour "Oppenheimer." Though Nolan tells Fandango he tends not to write with actor's in mind, he admitted to keying on his longtime collaborator for the role early in the film's genesis. "For me, I was adapting the book 'American Prometheus,'" he said, continuing, "the book sitting there with the real Robert Oppenheimer staring out with this incredible blue-eyed stare, and I thought, 'I know who could do that.'" And if you've seen "Oppenheimer," you know Murphy's piercing gaze is put to extraordinary use throughout.