The highly-awaited nominations for the annual Academy Awards were unveiled on Tuesday. And to no one's surprise, Christopher Nolan's 'Oppenheimer' earned 13 nominations, the most for any film at this year's awards, including one for Cillian Murphy in the Best Actor in a Leading Role category.
In a conversation with Variety, Murphy, who played the titular role, was asked how he feels about his first-ever nomination for the Oscars. He revealed, "Words don’t really do it justice. I think the superlatives fail you at this point. I’m so truly honoured and kind of overwhelmed. But most of all, proud of the movie, and proud that it has achieved so much. It exceeded all of our expectations, any of any of us who are involved in making this movie. I get people coming up to me on the street all the time and they say, 'I’ve watched the movie five times.' And then these are older people, and they’re younger people and they’re boys and girls. It’s crazy. And then to be recognized by the Academy like we have been, it’s just kind of mind-blowing."
The actor, who's hoping to get his wife and children to America for the Oscars, found out about his nomination from his home in Ireland. "Thankfully, I live in a time zone that I don’t have to get up at 5 AM." He added, "It was already organized for me. We’ve had a few days off and I’ve been at home, which has been very, very pleasant. I’m actually in my parents’ house in Cork city. I was with my parents and my wife today. So that was really nice." He further revealed he was standing in his childhood kitchen when the nominations were being announced. "We had a cup of tea and a slice of cake. It was quite nice,” Murphy said. “My mom made a sponge cake. It was very tasty."
Cillian Murphy will be attending the Oscars "with an open heart and enjoy it because it may never happen again."
Alongside him, Bradley Cooper for 'Maestro', Colman Domingo for 'Rustin,' Paul Giamatti for 'The Holdovers' and Jeffrey Wright for 'American Fiction' are also nominated under the same category. We will find out who will take home the prestigious award home on March 11, 2024 at 4:30 AM IST.
