Cillian Murphy reveals how he’s preparing for Christopher Nolan’s new film Oppenheimer

Murphy is starring in the film alongside Robert Downey Jr, Emily Blunt and Matt Damon

Cillian Murphy has discussed his work on Oppenheimer, the latest film from The Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan.

Murphy has collaborated with Nolan on multiple projects before, including Batman Begins, Inception and Dunkirk.

He is one of several actors confirmed to star in the popular filmmaker’s next movie, alongside Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr, Matt Damon, Matthew Modine, Florence Pugh and Rami Malek.

The film is a biopic of the nuclear scientist J Robert Oppenheimer, often described as the father of the atomic bomb. Murphy will be playing the title role. Find a first look at the film here.

Speaking to The Guardian about the project, Murphy said: “I’ll always turn up for Chris, whatever the size of the part. Chris will call me up and I’m there.

“Isn’t it wonderful that filmmakers are still making challenging, demanding films within the studio system, shot on film rather than Imax? I think he’s flying the flag. Him, Paul Thomas Anderson and Quentin Tarantino, are fantastic filmmakers making interesting work on a massive scale.”

Discussing his preparation for the role, Murphy said he had been doing “an awful lot of reading”.

“I’m interested in the man and what [inventing the atomic bomb] does to the individual,” he continued. “The mechanics of it, that’s not really for me – I don’t have the intellectual capability to understand them, but these contradictory characters are fascinating.”

Cillian Murphy has worked with Nolan several times before (Getty Images)

He then compared the character to his gangster character in the hit BBC series Peaky Blinders.

“Tommy Shelby’s a complete contradiction, too,” he said. “People identify with that, because we all walk around with these contradictory ideas coexisting in our heads.”

Oppenheimer is expected to release in cinemas next July.