One of the most respected and critically acclaimed actor of out times is Cillian Murphy, an Irish actor who has a made a mark in cinema’s history decades of impeccable work. Cillian debuted in 1996 through a stage play called “ Disco Pigs” and later made the screen debut with Irish drama named “Sweety Barrett”.
In this article i want to discuss Cillian’s craft and his approach to films and ultimately rank his top 10 movies. This is celebrating 30 years of cinematic brilliance.
Funky title but not funkier than Cillian’s teenage band, yes he was in a acid jazz band in the 1990s called The Sons of Mr. Green Genes, this was before he started acting. His debut was in the Irish drama “sweety Barrett” where he played a role of a waiter, nothing major just a small role. He continued to act in several Irish movies throughout the mid- late 90s, most of them being small scale productions like A man of few words (2001) and Eviction (1999)
Cillian's first major Hollywood role was in the 2003 American-British epic war film Cold Mountain, but his international break through was the 2003 apocalyptic movie 28 days later (one of my fav zombie horror!). This movie brought him into mainstream Hollywood, soon he stared in one of biggest movies of the decade Batman Begins (2005) as scarecrow. Since then it has been one wonder after another.
Cillian Murphy’s approach to acting is famously rooted in the traditions of an old-school craftsman. He once mentioned how a director once told him “It takes 30 years to make an actor” further adding “And I believe that. You have to learn your craft, learn your trade and also you have to live a life and experience things."“
He never had a professional acting degree or school, instead he spent years working as a theater actor which lead him to the big screen. Cillian is a big believer of manifesting your life onto to the screen to reflect the emotions of the character you’re playing. There is widely circulated saying in the film community “Cillian won an Oscar and went back to making films he believes in”.
I’m keeping this article short because i really want to dive deep into his filmography and my personal top 10 movies he has ever been in. So Here are the ranking, i will not be including movies like “Dark knight” because Cillian had a one second shot in the entire movie, he was no way a big part of it. Also i will rank them based on how good Cillian was in them not on the basis of how popular the movie was. Please keep in mind this is my opinion and you might digress.
Yes i know, why is Inception on the tenth place. But again, this is a Cillian Murphy list not a Nolan list which a lot of people seem to mix. Cillian plays the role of Robert fischer, a rich heir who is target of Leonardo’s dream thieve team, the plan is to infest Robert’s mind with ideas of doubt and manipulate him into dissolving his empire.
When i tell you Cillian looks like the only human in this movie to me, i mean the sheer vulnerability he expresses as a lonely man who shields himself from the world but deep down is just a hollow shell. A man whose entire life is one big corporate meeting, he plays the role wonderfully.
This is the second movie from Cillian’s production studio Big Things Films and it is easily one of the best movies of the year. The story follows Steve played by Cillian, the exhausted but deeply devoted headteacher of Stanton Wood, a crumbling, mid-1990s British reform boarding school for troubled, volatile teenage boys. While a documentary crew is at the school to document the rowdy boys to create sensational news.
Cillian in the movie plays a man who is so busy healing other’s wounds that he doesn’t notice that he is bleeding dry. When asked by the crew to describe himself in three words, steve replies
“very very tired”
Calm down, i know this was the movie that launch him into mainstream hollywood but as good as this movie is, Cillian plays a secondary antagonist role which is not a small role by any means but it is a Batman movie I was too focused on the plot to noticed his minor role. But i kept this movie on the 8th position because it was so memorable.
Cillian Murphy as Dr. Jonathan Crane was chilling and refreshing, it was a different take and worked miraculously. I was quiet young when i watched that movie but i remember his character so so well, though Murphy auditioned for Batman, this role was perfect for him.
It hurts my soul to put this movie on number seven because i love it but Murphy has too many good movies. Anthropoid is a historic spy thriller based on a real-life Slovak soldier trained by British forces. He and Jan Kubiš (Jamie Dornan), parachute into their Nazi-occupied homeland. Their top-secret mission, code-named Operation Anthropoid, is assassinate SS General Reinhard Heydrich.
The duo dynamic between the soldiers is such that Cillian’s character, Josef is always stoic and reserved while Jamie’s character is allowed to panic and be vulnerable. But when in the face of danger Josef remains clam, and Cillian plays this so well, a man who wakes up each morning to be die.
I cannot express in words how much i love this movie and Murphy’s acting in it, absolutely unhinged and incredibly hot for a cold blooded assassin. The plot revolves around a Hotel employ played by Rachel Mcadams who has access to hotel inner management which is needed by Cillian’s character who is a assassin to kill a major political figure.
80% of the movie is based on a plane and it is so thrilling. Cillian is so cocky, funny and cold blooded in this movie. This was one of my very first Murphy movies ever and I love it. And i frankly don’t care if you don’t like it (i was 13 give me a pass).
This is an incredibly sci fi thriller which plunged into fame recently after the success of Hail Mary. The movie starts in 2057 where the sun is dying which is threating the extension of humanity, Cillian’s character, robert is the lead physicist aboard Icarus II, a massive spacecraft carrying a colossal stellar nuclear payload. The mission is simple but seemingly insane: fly directly to the Sun, drop the bomb into its core to reignite the star and come back.
Robert is a very quiet and collected characater which works great with Chris Evens’s character who is a hot headed engineer. Cillian beautifully captures the essence of a man who is aware he is flying towards death.
“Now I am become Diva, the server of cunt.”
Such a brilliant, fantastic movie about gender identity, political violence and resilience. Breakfast on Pluto is a story about Patrick who was abandoned by his birth mother, since young Patrick identified as a women and later adopted the name kitten. Kitten is cute, soft but also strong and fearless, the plot follows her as she travels across Ireland and london in search of her birth mother and the obstacles that come her way.
Cillian Reportedly trained for months for this role, practicing feminine posture and hanging out with drag queens and trans women to better understand kitten. And the end result was just ICONIC.
My first ever Cillian Murphy movie, a intense apocalyptic zombie thriller where the real horror is Man. The movie starts with a robbery into a research facility which causes the experimented monkey to be let loose, these monkeys bite people and infect them with a virus that makes humans raged and hungry for flesh. The plot revolves around a group of survivors to make it out to safety.
This movie is so so so good i love it, this was always Cillian’s breakthrough into hollywood and he absolutely excelled the “tired raged man” concept, Also Naomie Harris is so incredibly hot it will blow your mind.
This brilliant historical piece proved Cillian’s capability in playing emotional heavy and intense action roles. Set in mid 1920s, amidst the brewing Irish War of Independence, Cillian’s character Damien is a young doctor who is on his way to london but on his way he encounters the horrors his people are subjected to by the British army. In his angry he tears the tear ticket and joins his brother in the struggle for independence.
The reason this film is high on the list is not only because it is a great movie in general but always it is everything Murphy represents, his pride and love for his country and people, actors starring in films they believe in, acting for a purpose; for greater cinematic art.
Whose surprised? This is THE Cillian murphy movie, Oppenheimer introduced international fans to his craft and cemented his name into the world of Cinema forever. If you had been living under a rock and don’t know, Oppenheimer is a story about J. Robert Oppenheimer a brilliant physicist who is hired by the US government during World War II to lead the top-secret Manhattan Project. He builds a laboratory and gathers the world's best scientists to built world’s first atomic bomb.
The sheer scale at which this absurd movie is made and how well everything pans out is incredible. I love how Cillian’s eyes are so fucking intense throughout, like he has a billion equations running laps in mind 24/7 and they all equate to death. A young brilliant mind to a guilt ridden old man, Cillian Murphy is genius in all aspects of this movie.
I know a lot of people won’t agree with my ranking but these are just my opinions. There are a lot of movies which i didn’t mention in the top 10 but i incredible movies.
Watching Detectives (2007)
Small things like these (2024)
Sunburn (1999)
Alright I’m done, let me know what is your favorite Cillian murphy move. If you made it this far, thank you so much for reading!! Below are the letterboxd rating for the same:
Oppenheimer (2023): 4.2/5
The wind that shakes the Barely (2006): 3.7/5
28 days later (2002): 3.6/5
Breakfast on Pluto (2005): 3.8/5
Sunshine (2007): 3.7/5
Red eye (2005): 3.3/5
Anthropoid (2016): 3.6/5
Batman Begins (2005): 4.0/5
Steve (2025): 3.5/5
Inception (2010): 4.2/5
Well now if you’ll excuse me, I have some Video tapes to return
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