Dowtcha boy! - ‘All of Cork is very proud’ of Oscar winner Cillian

CORK woke up yesterday morning to the news that, as had been highly anticipated, Cillian Murphy was the ‘Toast of Tinseltown’ after winning the coveted Best Actor Oscar at the 96th Academy Awards.

Tributes have been paid to the Ballintemple actor, who won the award for his starring role in Christopher Nolan’s biopic Oppenheimer, which swept the boards in Los Angeles on Sunday night.

Mr Murphy, who played the title role of J Robert Oppenheimer, the American physicist who helped to develop the atomic bomb, is the first Irish-born winner of the Best Actor award.

The actor had already won a Golden Globe, a Bafta, and a Screen Actors Guild award for his starring turn as the theoretical physicist widely known as ‘the father of the atomic bomb’.

Tributes

Leading the tributes to Mr Murphy was President Michael D Higgins, who congratulated him on his “wonderful achievement” and acknowledged his appropriate dedication to peacemakers everywhere during his speech.

Tánaiste Micheál Martin also congratulated his fellow Cork man on his “richly deserved” win, saying he is “absolutely thrilled and delighted” for him and his family.

In a video message from outside Mr Murphy’s former primary school, St Anthony’s Boys National School in Ballinlough, Mr Martin said: “It was an outstanding performance in an outstanding film that will stand the test of time. All at St Anthony’s Boys School are particularly thrilled, his alma mater, of course, at Leeside in Cork.

“Delighted for him and his wonderful family and the nation as a whole all rejoice in a well-deserved Oscar award for Cillian Murphy.”

Speaking to The Echo, the Lord Mayor of Cork, Kieran McCarthy, said that the whole of Cork is very proud of Mr Murphy.

“Major congrats to Cillian. He has been on a run of award successes for several weeks now and remains very humble in his success,” said Mr McCarthy.

“All of Cork is very proud of him, and I look forward to honouring him in City Hall in the not-so-distant future. He is a true arts treasure who remains grounded and he is a huge inspiration for others from Cork and Ireland involved in the international cinema scene.”

Speaking at yesterday evening’s meeting of Cork City Council, Mr McCarthy said: “I think many councillors today have been calling that our fantastic, international Oscar-winning actor Cillian Murphy be honoured in some shape or form within the city. I have reached out to his publicist and to himself and I await a response on that, so in of questions around any sort of civic reception or homecoming, we don’t know what Cillian would actually like, so I await a response on that.”

Freedom of Cork

Labour Party election candidate for Cork City South East Peter Horgan suggested that Mr Murphy should be awarded the Freedom of Cork as tribute for his continued contribution to film, not just globally but in Cork and Ireland.

“This was a wonderful day for the country to wake up to, and for Cork to wake up to — one of their own winning the Academy Award for Best Actor,” said Mr Horgan.

“I have written to the Lord Mayor and think this is no more fitting this year than to bestow the Freedom of Cork on Cillian Murphy to acknowledge what he has done, and continues to do, for Irish film.”

Fianna Fáil councillor for the Cork City South-East ward Mary Rose Desmond said she was “thrilled” for Mr Murphy on his historic achievement and said the excitement locally following his win was “palpable”.

“It has been building over the last week. Everyone has been feeling he deserved it but holding their breath until it was a reality,” she said.

“We all love a local success story and, to be fair, Cillian has been a success for many years but this is the ultimate acknowledgement of his talent as an actor on the world stage. Cillian and indeed the entire Murphy family have always been very unassuming, but I think it is safe to say there isn’t a child in the locality, especially in St Anthony’s Boys Primary School, that won’t know his name.”

Independent councillor for Cork North-East ward Kenneth O’Flynn, who is also on the board of directors of Visit Cork (Pure Cork), said: “Cillian Murphy’s remarkable Oscar win is a momentous occasion that we are celebrating in a big way. His victory not only marks a personal triumph but also holds immense importance for Cork and the thriving arts community within it.

“As a proud Corkonian, Cillian’s achievement resonates deeply with the local spirit and talent that Cork embodies.”

Big News

Speaking to The Echo from the US, the head of Visit Cork, Seamus Heaney, said: “Arts and culture are big news and it’s what people want post-covid and I think the fact that Ireland is doing very well in cinema and cartoon in California alone is great news.

“To hear that even last week at a meeting with the IDA that it’s not all about tech, it’s about the arts too and how well that is doing.

“For him to win that on Sunday night was fantastic for the film industry in Ireland and to get more film coming to Ireland and Cork, it would be amazing.

“We always highlight the fact that ‘every bottle of Jameson across the globe is made in Cork’ and now to add the Best Actor winner hails from Cork. It is huge news here in the US.”

Mr Murphy’s win was also celebrated among those in the hospitality sector, with one bar rolling out the red carpet and a cardboard cut- out of the Cork star for its customers following the news.

Marketing manager of BarBarossa on Oliver Plunkett Street, Denis Cronin, said: “Everyone at BarBarossa shares in the pride that all of Cork is feeling.”

Absolutely delighted

Mr Murphy’s former primary and secondary schools were also celebrating the news yesterday morning.

St Anthony’s Boys National School principal Seán Lyons said: “As a school community, we are absolutely delighted for Cillian and for his family and his parents, it’s just such a remarkable achievement for the man from Ballinlough and from Cork and Ireland to be an Oscar winner, that’s just phenomenal.

“It’s just a great positive feel all around Cork and all around Ireland to say he’s one of our own and he has achieved it and he has done it in such a humble, respectful, talented way and we in the school have always had a special place in our hearts for Cillian. To reach the pinnacle now on the global stage is just a testament to the person he is and someone who we are, here in the school, so so proud of.”

Principal of Mr Murphy’s former secondary school, Presentation Brothers College, David Barry, said: “This is such a great honour for Cillian and his family. It is a reward for all of the hard work that he has put into his career.

“He is an inspirational person who continues to influence people all over the world. There is a great buzz in the school due to Cillian’s success.”

Disco Pigs

Born in Cork in 1976, Mr Murphy first came to prominence in Corcadorca production of Disco Pigs. His international breakthrough role came in 2002 in the Danny Boyle film 28 Days Later.

He showed his darker side as a domestic terrorist in the 2005 thriller Red Eye, and also had roles in Breakfast On Pluto, the Irish war drama The Wind That Shakes The Barley, and science fiction thriller Sunshine, which reunited him with Boyle.

He first collaborated with director Christopher Nolan in 2005, as Scarecrow in Batman Begins, a role he reprised in The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises.

He also appeared in Nolan’s films Inception and Dunkirk, but it is his work with the director on Oppenheimer that has brought him the most critical acclaim.

Oppenheimer, which is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book American Prometheus: The Triumph And Tragedy Of J Robert Oppenheimer, written by Kai Bird and Martin J Sherwin, was the big winner on the night, scooping seven awards in total, including Best Actor, Best Picture, and Best ing Actor, as well as Best Director, plus Film Editing, Cinematography, and Original Ocore.

The film chronicles Oppenheimer’s studies, his career, his direction of the Manhattan Project during the Second World War, and his eventual fall from grace after his 1954 security hearing.