“The Butcher Boy” (1998)
![THE BUTCHER BOY, Eamonn Owens, 1997. © Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection](https://www.indiewire.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Murphy-Butcher-Boy-1-1.jpg?w=300)
Murphy still remembers the spontaneous round of applause “The Butcher Boy” received at an Irish cinema as the movie concluded. Directed by Neil Jordan, a filmmaker Murphy would go on to work with in “Breakfast on Pluto,” the film so captivated the aspiring actor that he bought another ticket and rewatched it immediately after leaving his seat. The dark 1960s storyline of an abused and neglected 12-year-old boy who succumbs to his violent fantasies — after he is left to fend for himself following the death of his alcoholic father and medical confinement of his suicidal mother — is an account that has stuck with Murphy throughout his career.
“It’s the tone of the movie that makes it so wonderful,” Murphy said to Deadline. “It’s really heightened and then all of a sudden violence and tragedy hits you out of nowhere and spins you on an emotional axis.”