Cillian Murphy finally gets to go home now. The poor fella has been on an exhausting journey in pursuit of his first Oscar. At Sunday night’s Academy Awards ceremony, the biggest shock of the night was that we didn’t see a Tommy Shelby-shaped hole in the wall of the Dolby Theatre the second after Brendan Fraser handed it over.
He’s been at more awards shows and hand-shaking luncheons than we can count (and he has been the best-dressed man at pretty much all of them), but all the while he’s been dreaming about the day he can finally hop on board that Aer Lingus flight back to Dublin with no return ticket. Today is that day. The man just wants to potter around Monkstown and Dalkey (the Amalfi Coast of Dublin, as real heads know), grab a coffee, maybe hop in the sea, definitely not be bothered by anyone. Could you blame him?
His win put a deliciously creamy head on the pint we’ve all been supping for a while now: the Irish are taking over Hollywood, one Oscars at a time. Last year, Colin Farrell, Barry Keoghan, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon and Paul Mescal were all nominated in the actor categories, and all shut out. But all the while, behind the scenes, Cillian Murphy was building an atomic bomb to blow them all out of the water. “I’m a very proud Irishman standing here tonight,” he said during his speech, as the first ever Irishman to win the award (unless you count Daniel Day-Lewis, an Irish citizen, who, with all the love and admiration in the world, I don’t).
He faced the moment with the humility and low-key awe we’ve come to expect from him, as he let out a little chuckle when stepping up to the mic. “I’m a little overwhelmed,” he said before rattling through some thank yous. “Chris Nolan and [Oppenheimer producer] Emma Thomas, I owe you more than I can say.”
“We made a film about the man who created the atomic bomb, and for better or for worse we’re all living in Oppenheimer’s world," he said, "so I would really like to dedicate this to the peacemakers everywhere.”
And then, fittingly, he finished it off with a bit of Irish: “Go raibh mile maith agat”, which means thank you very much. Slán Abhaile, Cillian!
