Cillian Murphy has high praise for his and Florence Pugh’s “Oppenheimer” sex scenes, but he admits they were “awkward” to film.
“Listen, no one likes doing them,” the actor told British GQ in an interview published Monday.
“They’re the most awkward possible part of our job. But sometimes you have to get on with it,” he continued, calling the moments “worthwhile” because Pugh’s character Jean Tatlock’s affair with J. Robert Oppenheimer is “key” to the movie.
“[That] is one of the most crucial emotional parts of the film,” Murphy added. “I think they were vital.”
The “Peaky Blinders” star, 47, similarly gushed over his and Pugh’s “f–king powerful” performance while speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald last week.
“Those scenes were written deliberately,” he said on July 19. “They’re not gratuitous. They’re perfect. And Florence is just amazing.”
Murphy noted that director Christopher Nolan “knew that those scenes would get the movie the [R] rating that it got.”
The Golden Globe nominee went on to call Pugh, 27, a “f–king phenomenal” actress.
“She has this presence as a person and on screen that is staggering,” he explained. “The impact she has [in ‘Oppenheimer’] for the size of the role, it’s quite devastating.”
As for his own performance, Murphy told GQ that playing the theoretical physicist was a “huge … responsibility.”
The “Dark Knight” star spoke specifically about the weight he lost for the role, one week after co-star Emily Blunt told “Extra” that an “emaciated” Murphy ate just an almond a day.
“This was for work,” he was “careful” to emphasize. “It was for a purpose. … He was a very, very slight guy. And he was very self-conscious about that. And it gave him this very unique, particular kind of iconic silhouette.”
“Oppenheimer” hit theaters July 21 alongside Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie,” leading to the fourth-biggest box office opening in history.
