Cillian Murphy Dreaded A Key Scene In Oppenheimer – Now He'll Never Forget It
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We can safely assume Cillian Murphy will (deservedly) receive his first acting Oscar nod and perhaps his first win for "Oppenheimer." As the "father of the atomic bomb," Murphy is tasked with playing someone haunted by his every waking moment. Whether he is a young scientist fixated on unraveling the secrets of the universe or an older man tormented by the horrors that his creation has inflicted, J. Robert "Oppie" Oppenheimer is a figure who always carries the weight of the world on his shoulders in the film. That's not necessarily simple to communicate without resorting to histrionics, so it's a credit to Murphy that he often does so with little more than a harrowed expression.
Perhaps the only thing more intimidating than pretending to be someone who is relentlessly tormented by their inner demons is (gasp) pretending to be someone who actually understands a thing about quantum mechanics. Of course, with "Oppenheimer" being a Christopher Nolan joint, the challenges didn't stop there. In one sequence from the film, Oppenheimer delivers a physics lecture in Dutch at Leiden University ... which means that Murphy also had to learn how to give a physics lecture in Dutch.
Speaking in an interview from the newly-released "Unleashing Oppenheimer: Inside Christopher Nolan's Explosive Atomic-Age Thriller" by Jada Yuan, Murphy recalled:
"It's a small scene, but I remember talking to Chris in preproduction and saying, 'Chris, what do you want to do about this Dutch scene?' And he said, 'What are you going to do about this Dutch scene?' It's very much that he works at the top of his game, so he expects everyone else to do their work, to do their due diligence."
Luckily for Murphy, he just so happened to have a Dutch co-worker who could give him some pointers.
Physics and Dutch 101
"Oppenheimer" is full of dialogue based on lectures and speeches that Oppie and his peers delivered in real life, including the one he gives at Leiden University in the film. As "Unleashing Oppenheimer" reveals, Nolan and co-producer Andy Thompson entrusted cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema (Nolan's regular director of photography dating back to "Interstellar") with translating part of the lecture into Dutch for the scene. Hoytema also recorded himself saying the paragraph aloud at both a slowed-down and normal pace, allowing Murphy to commit it to memory.
"I listened to it and repeated it for about three months every morning," Murphy explained. "I can still say it. It's one of those things that I will never forget because I did it so many times." However, lest you go assuming Murphy can speak a little Dutch now or has even the faintest understanding of quantum mechanics, he admitted it was "purely phonetic."
As difficult as this scene was for Murphy, it serves a purpose beyond giving him a chance to showboat as an actor. More pointedly, it's a moment that illustrates just how razor-sharp Oppenheimer truly is, so much so that he can learn enough Dutch in a matter of six weeks to explain complicated physics concepts to a body of people fluent in the language. This restrained approach is also indicative of what makes Murphy's acting in the film so compelling in general. For all the ways his performance is the stuff of typical Oscar-baiting fare (right down to the weight he lost for the role), it's his subtle hand that allows him to work his magic. Even when he, quite literally, has no idea what he's talking about.