Q&A: Cillian Murphy on following ‘Oppenheimer’ with the Irish drama ‘Small Things Like These’
Cillian Murphy went back to Ireland for his first film after “Oppenheimer.”
Cillian Murphy didn’t read “Small Things Like These” looking for a film to do. He was simply a fan of the author, Claire Keegan.
Her story, nominated for the Booker Prize, was a work of historical fiction about the Magdalene laundries in Ireland and an ordinary man with repressed trauma who can’t force himself to look away over Christmas in 1985. The beauty of the prose and complexities of the themes lingered in Murphy’s mind. The Irish actor had also been thinking about starting his own production company. Miraculously, the rights were available.
As a nod to the film, opening in North American theaters on Friday, Murphy and his producing partner Alan Moloney named their company Big Things Films.
“We were like, if you call it Small Things Films, it would show a real lack of ambition,” Murphy said with a little laugh. “We thought better call it Big Things Films.”
