Emily Blunt on Why Fans Are 'Spellbound' byOppenheimerCostar Cillian Murphy: He's 'Captivating' (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Cillian Murphy and Emily Blunt in Beverly Hills, California, on Jan. 13, 2024.Photo:Gregg DeGuire/FilmMagic

Gregg DeGuire/FilmMagic

Cillian Murphy’s reserved nature doesn’t make him any less “captivating,” according to hisOppenheimercostarEmily Blunt.

During a group interview with PEOPLE Monday at the 96thOscar Nominees Luncheonin Beverly Hills, California, Blunt, 40, told Murphy, “There is a reverence that you are so deserving of.”

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Robert Downey Jr., Emily Blunt and Cillian Murphy at the 96th Oscar Nominees Luncheon in Beverly Hills, California, on Feb. 12, 2024.JC Olivera/Getty

JC Olivera/Getty

In the same conversation, the duo’s costarRobert Downey Jr.praised Murphy’s “leadership,” adding, “You are meant and born to be at the front of big cinematic experiences.”

He went on to joke of the reception they received at a Q&A, “I come in, I get your typical, ‘It’s Tony Stark, but now he’s bald.’ Cillian comes in, people start standing up. Chris comes in, everyone’s on their feet.”

Murphyis nominated at the upcoming Academy Awardsfor the first time, in the Best Actor category, for his role as J. Robert Oppenheimer.

Meanwhile, Blunt is up for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as his wife Kitty Oppenheimer, and Downey Jr., 58, is in the running for Best Supporting Actor as Atomic Energy Commission chairman Lewis Strauss.

Cillian Murphy and Emily Blunt inOppenheimer(2023).Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures

Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures

The A-list cast of Nolan’s epic all agree the film’s star, Irish actor Murphy, gives the performance of his life as the American physicist who led the U.S. effort to create an atomic bomb duringWorld War II.

But they also agree thathis deep-blue eyes can be distractingwhen acting opposite him.

“It’s a real problem when you’re doing scene work with Cillian,”Matt Damontold PEOPLE last summer, in a group interview alongside Blunt and Murphy. “Sometimes you find yourself just swimming in his eyes.”

Oppenheimeris now streaming on Peacock.

source: people.com