Cillian Murphy’s New Look in Next Movie after Oppenheimer-Revealed

Irish actor Cillian Murphy is regarded as one of the finest actors in the industry currently, and his performance in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer just goes on to prove exactly that. The actor is recognized for his work as Thomas Shelby in Netflix’s critically acclaimed series Peaky Blinders and is very soon going to return to play the character for a feature movie.

Murphy launched the independent production company Big Things Films with Alan Moloney in February 2024. The first movie from his company is going to be Small Things like These, which is based on a 2021 novel of the same name by Claire Keegan. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s Artists Equity is also producing the movie whose first look has arrived.

Cillian Murphy appears as a dotting father; Bill Furlong in Small Things like These

Directed by Tim Mielants, Small Things like These is adapted by Enda Walsh from Claire Keegan’s novel of the same name. Cillian Murphy not only serves as the producer but also stars in the movie as Bill Furlong. The movie reportedly focuses on Ireland’s infamous Magdalene laundries.

The movie that premiered at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival back in February not only was acquired for theatrical distribution by Lionsgate but also received positive responses from the critics. Furlong is going to be Murphy’s first role since the success and award-winning streak for Oppenheimer.

Critics who watched the movie at the film festival have deemed Cillian Murphy’s work on Small Things like These as ‘exceptionally brilliant,’ and it holds an 83% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes. Ahead of its release in November, Lionsgate released the first trailer for the movie, which showcases Murphy as a coal merchant and a father who questions the comings and goings of young girls at the Catholic convent close to his yard.

Furlong discovers disturning secrets kept by the local convent—and uncovers the truth of his own—which forces him to confront his past and the complicit silence of a small Irish town. The trailer concludes with Eileen, played by Eileen Walsh, telling her husband [Murphy],

If you want to get on in this life, there are things you have to ignore.

Small Things like These is a real history of the Magdalene Laundries, asylums, and workhouses run by the Catholic Church in Ireland. The purpose of these places were specifically to employ and educate ‘fallen women’. THR reported that the laundries were officially shut down in 1996, which was followed by a well-publicized investigation scandal in Ireland.

Cillian Murphy says Small Things like These is ‘seemingly simple, but is incredibly complex’

In his cover story for Vanity Fair, the Peaky Blinders actor revealed that he gave the script of the movie to Matt Damon, with whom he worked on Oppenheimer. He remembers telling Damon that the movie is different but shares some thematic crossover with Manchester by the Sea and Doubt. Murphy added that Damon loved the script, and he signed on to produce it via Artists Equity, which he co-founded with Ben Affleck.

Small Things like These as a post-Oppenheimer project intrigued Muprhy, and he explains to the publication:

It’s so seemingly simple, but it’s incredibly complex, actually when you look at it. It’s massively intertwined with Irish people, our history, our culture, trauma, and all of that stuff. I feel that sometimes art is a gentler way of addressing or confronting that than, perhaps, government reports or academic papers.

The filmmaker Tim Mielants goes on to share that at the time, men in Ireland were not allowed to express how they felt or cope with it. He added that having a character who’s extremely vulnerable and can’t express how he feels at the same time was like a beautiful volcano of emotions for him. He goes on to praise Murphy by stating that what he does in front of the camera is so good.

Mielants says, ‘As far as I am concerned, he’s the best actor on the planet’. He explains that he was sharing his pain with Murphy all the time at every single moment in the story, and he has never seen an actor express so well and so much in depth. Murphy added that he was happy to make a film at home [Ireland]. Fans are very excited to see Cillian Murphy back on screen.

Small Things like These is scheduled for a release on November 8.