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I come from a long line of teachers. Not only did I not go into the family business; I had an aborted law career and I played in bands. ‘Disco Pigs’ was my first professional acting experience.

Cillian Murphy

I’m interested in pressure, I’m interested in duress. All the great works of art, or film or literature, in my opinion, have elements of those in them.
CILLIAN MURPHY

Element Greatness Interest Literature Opinion
I’ve always felt kind of safe on stage, protected. I’ve talked to other performers about this and they feel the same things, particularly in the live arena. I never get nervous going on stage to do a play. Doing film or television I’ll have more butterflies.
CILLIAN MURPHY

Kind Myself Nervous Performance Protection Safety
I try not to think retrospectively. It’s important, as an artist, to look forward, always. I do try to take work that involves some challenge. If you approach a piece of work and you’re going, “Yeah, yeah, I can do that,” then that’s kind of a red flag.
CILLIAN MURPHY

Artist Flag Important Kind Pieces Thinking Try
It’s always nice to be challenged.
CILLIAN MURPHY

Challenge Myself
I think you fall out of love with theater while you’re doing your eighth show of your eighteenth week and your body is saying, “Please make this end.”
CILLIAN MURPHY

Body End Fall Love Movie Play Thinking Yourself
I think every director has a different methodology.
CILLIAN MURPHY

Different Director Method
There’s a lot of comedy in Intermission but it’s got this depth. It’s not comedy for comedy’s sake – it’s informed by something else. I like stuff like that
CILLIAN MURPHY

Comedy Deep Myself
I don’t think they’d ever make a movie about Chuck Baker but I’d love to play Chuck Baker
CILLIAN MURPHY

Love Movie Myself Thinking
Having started out in theatre, I feel an impulse to do it as much as I can.
CILLIAN MURPHY

Feeling Myself Start
For me, drama is conflict.
CILLIAN MURPHY

Conflict Drama Myself
I’ve never done a film for the money.
CILLIAN MURPHY

Money Movie Myself
The medium is secondary to the stories.
CILLIAN MURPHY

Media Method Story
I always think it’s a sign of a truly gifted director when they can move seamlessly between genres.
CILLIAN MURPHY

Director Gift Myself Thinking True
I will always love film, the romance of film, sitting in the darkened room with strangers and watching a story for two hours – that will always remain and never be eroded by television.
CILLIAN MURPHY

Darkness Love Movie Myself Romance Story Stranger Watch
I like being at home with my music and my books. I’ve done all the partying, I’ve done enough partying for four or five people as a young fella. But now I like the quiet life.
CILLIAN MURPHY

Book Home Life Music Myself Party People Quiet
The best roles you have to fight for. You have to really want to do it and you have to go after it.
CILLIAN MURPHY

Best Fight Role Yourself
My wife can see always how a part affects me personally because she has to live with it.
CILLIAN MURPHY

Herself Live Personal Wife
I’ve had the pleasure and the great luck to work with some incredible actors over the years and you have to observe and learn and take something from it and try and become better yourself.
CILLIAN MURPHY

Better Greatness Happiness Luck Observation Work Yourself
Every Irish person of my generation and earlier, we were raised Catholic and we’d have to learn it in school, we’d to learn the catechism by rote.
CILLIAN MURPHY

Generation Learning Myself School
From a very young age I had an ambition to be a musician, and to do that professionally. That’s what I pursued until I was about 20, playing in bands that were taken pretty seriously at that stage.
CILLIAN MURPHY

Age Ambition Music Professional Serious Young Yourself
For me it’s always been about the stories, not what medium. The medium is secondary to the stories.
CILLIAN MURPHY

Medium Myself Story
I think for me with theater, I need to take a break and then fall in love with it again. And then go do it again.
CILLIAN MURPHY

Break Fall In Love Myself Need Thinking
I think if you play characters, it’s very important not to ever tag them with any sort of disorder, or diagnose them, or whatever. You have to normalize the behavior to get inside the character.
CILLIAN MURPHY

Character Myself Normal Play Thinking
I loved The Fall; I was kind of obsessed with that show.
CILLIAN MURPHY

Fall Love Myself Obsession
I think any actor that says ‘I never watch my films’ is a liar because you have to watch it at least once and also you’re going to watch it when you’re doing your ADR.
CILLIAN MURPHY

Lying Thinking Yourself
At the moment I’m doing this space movie, so I’m obsessed with physics and space travel. I know three months down the line it’s gone. Then I’ll be able to superficially say stuff about space.
CILLIAN MURPHY

Moments Movie Myself Space
I suppose I’ve always been attracted to this sort of outsider in general – in literature, in music, politics, whatever – and to the person that is able to be relentlessly themselves. I don’t think that I have that quality, that strength of mind.
CILLIAN MURPHY

Attraction Literature Mindset Music Myself Person Politics Quality Strength

I come from a long line of teachers. Not only did I not go into the family business; I had an aborted law career and I played in bands. ‘Disco Pigs’ was my first professional acting experience.

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I come from a long line of teachers. Not only did I not go into the family business; I had an aborted law career and I played in bands. ‘Disco Pigs’ was my first professional acting experience.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

More Cillian Murphy Quotes