Cillian Murphy gets candid about working on the last season of 'Peaky Blinders' and the absence of Helen McCrory
by Ana Walia | Thu, 03 Feb 2022 20:36:08 GMT
Image Source: Tyla, HeyGuys

Cillian Murphy is getting candid about working on ‘Peaky Blinders’ for the last time and how hard it has been to shoot without late actress Helen McCrory

In his recent interview with Esquire UK, Cillian Murphy who plays Thomas Shelby on ‘Peaky Blinders’, shared that filming the last season without Helen McCrory who played Aunt Polly on the show was a ‘very unpleasant shooting experience, for loads of different reasons'. He further explained, “I've never lost anyone like that — who was young and a friend. It was very confusing. But she was magnificent. She was an absolutely magnificent person. We were just reeling throughout the whole thing. She was a dear, dear pal and she was the beating heart of that show, so it felt very strange being on set without her. The difficult thing to comprehend is that, if it wasn't for Covid, there would be a whole other version of this show with Helen in it. But she was so private and so f*****g brave and courageous.”

Cillian continued to recall and appreciate the late actress and said, “She was inspirational. People throw that word around, but she genuinely was. Her values, the way she dealt with her kids and Damian [Lewis, her husband of 14 years]... She cares about everybody. She's really funny and really cool, and she had this real warmth. She really cared. It's just... I still can't believe she's not here. It doesn't make sense.”

Late actress Helen McCrory as Aunt Polly on 'Peaky Blinders'. Image Source: Metro 

During the interview, Cillian was asked about the spin-offs movie of ‘Peaky Blinders’ that Steven Knight had already mentioned stating, “We’re going to be making [it] in the next 18 months to two years.” Steven also mentioned that Cillian Murphy would also star in the movie as Thomas Shelby. However, Cillian addressed it as, “Mmm, talk. I’m open to ideas. I think [Steven Knight] wants to, but I haven’t read anything.”

The last season of ‘Peaky Blinders’ is all set to premiere this month and talking about how it was to be back on set as Thomas Shelby, Cillian shared “I’m always fucking thrilled to be finished every series because he’s so relentless and tiring to play, and you have to go to all those really dark, ambiguous places. I’m always just delighted to come home and have a nice boring existence.” Cillian had some parallel world thoughts about how the makers could have cut Thomas Shelby a slack and have a boring day. The actor said, “If you think about it, Tommy never wakes up and has an average day. He wakes up and some catastrophe befalls him everywhere he goes, and people are always trying to fucking kill him. I used to joke that we should just shoot one day where Tommy wakes up and… nothing. He misses a package or something. But it never happens. I mean, I guess that’s drama, isn’t it? Nobody wants to see someone wait for a package.”

Cillian Murphy as Thomas Shelby in 'Peaky Blinders'. Image Source: Esquire 

Sharing about the last season’s storyline, the Irish actor said that it is going to be ‘Dark as fuck’. He further added, “Duality is what I’m interested in, that thing of: how the fuck can he be such a sensitive, good father but commit this heinous fucking act? People are willing to spend an awful long time with characters who, if someone described them to you in daily life, you would say, ‘Keep that person away from me.’ Is it only in television that that exists?”

Talking more about Thomas Shelby's storyline in the last season, Cillian Murphy said, “He’s making an effort to reform but circumstances keep slipping out of his control. A lot of it is close to home; in fact, all of the things that really come up in [series] six are from close to home.” Cillian also added that there is a “brilliant storyline with Tommy and Lizzy and the kids, that’s really, really strong; I think he’s always super-fragile around them: the idea of ‘If anything happened to the children…' The gypsy part of it is very strong in this series. I’m a big fan of that whole supernatural world that Tommy got from his mother and from Polly – that true line back to something pure, that gypsy tradition. That was probably one of my favorite elements of this story.”

Steven Knight had mentioned Cillian as Thomas, “It’s a cliché, but no one else could have been Tommy Shelby. It would be absurd. It was as if Cillian was always waiting.” Cillian Murphy is soon going to star as the main lead in Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’, which is recounted, the troubled life of the theoretical physicist and ‘father of atomic bomb’. Sharing some about it the Irish actor said, “It’s the first time he’s cast me in a lead, which I’m still a bit in shock about, but I’m thrilled. It’s a huge part and a lot of work. But in my estimation, you’re working with one of the greatest living directors, so you’re in safe hands.”

Cillian Murphy was also asked about not being very social or showbizzy and he said, “I don’t know, I’ve never been interested in that stuff. I’ve always been interested in just the work. I’m shit at being anything else other than an actor. I’m shit at being a personality. I’m shit at red carpets. I’m shit at being on talk shows. I’m shit at, like, all the other stuff that comes with it.”

Information Source: Esquire UK 

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