Cillian Murphy feels J. Robert Oppenheimer was ‘naive’, couldn’t gauge impact of atom bomb

Los Angeles: A lot has been said about the clash between ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’ which squared off at the box-office on July 21. But, what does Cillian Murphy, the actor who plays the titular role in ‘Oppenheimer’ think about Greta Gerwig’s ‘Barbie’?

Well, the actor has a rather interesting answer to that, reports ‘Variety’.

Omelete (via Cinefilos) asked Murphy if he’d play Ken in a potential sequel to Gerwig’s now historic comedy blockbuster.

“Sure, yeah. Let’s read the script, let’s have a conversation,” Murphy responded about playing Ken. “I can’t wait to see (‘Barbie’). I can’t wait to see the movie. I think it’s great for cinema to get all these great movies happening this summer.”

As per ‘Variety’, ‘Barbie’ opened to a massive $162 million during its opening weekend, but ‘Oppenheimer’ was no slouch. The film debuted to a huge $82 million, a staggering number considering Nolan’s latest is a talky, three-hour biographical drama that’s also rated R.

For now, he’s still processing everything that went into becoming J. Robert Oppenheimer, the theoretical physicist who created the atomic bomb during World War II. Murphy went through dramatic isolation periods and weight loss during filming, so much so that Robert Downey Jr. said he’s never seen an actor sacrifice more for a role than Murphy in ‘Oppenheimer’ Is Oppenheimer a hero or a villain? The discussion is a nuanced one for Murphy.

“I do think that he believed it would be the weapon to end all wars,” Murphy recently told NME. “He thought that (having the bomb) would motivate countries to form a sort of nuclear world governance. He was naive.”

Murphy added that Nolan helped him unlock the more nuanced parts of Oppenheimer’s character. “Chris used this amazing phrase,” he said. “We were talking about Oppenheimer’s arc and he said, ‘You know, he’s dancing between the raindrops morally.’ That unlocked something in my mind when I was preparing.”

–IANS