Cillian Murphy throws some shade on the current crop of superhero movies

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Not to sound creepy, but before now, I had never noticed that Cillian Murphy has beautiful skin. And a pretty mouth. It just got creepy, right? Anyway, Cillian is of course known for many roles in an impressive CV which includes: 28 Days Later, Red Eye, Sunshine, Inception and Peaky Blinders, just to name a few. But I suspect many casual watchers know him from Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, wherein Cillian played Scarecrow, a devious villain with aerosolized hallucinogens hidden up his sleeve at all times. Cillian was great/creepy in the role, and he enjoys a close working friendship with Nolan – Cillian also has a big part in Nolan’s upcoming war epic, Dunkirk. So maybe Cillian has every right to defend Nolan’s Batman trilogy. And maybe Cillian has every right to throw a bit of shade on the Batfleck and other would-be superhero movies.

The influx of comic book movies: “Have they exhausted every single comic book ever? I don’t know where they’re coming from anymore.”

Why he did Nolan’s trilogy: “It was a different time back when we made Batman Begins. I think that Chris [Nolan] has to take credit for making that trilogy of films. I think they’re so grounded in a relatable reality. Nobody in those films ever had a superpower. Do you know what I mean? It’s a slightly heightened level of storytelling, where New York is Gotham, and no one did anything magical. Batman in his movies just did a lot of pushups and was, like, British. So that’s what I loved about them. My kids love the Marvel movies, but I don’t know. I don’t watch them.”

[From Vulture]

I don’t think Cillian said anything wrong or untrue whatsoever. He should be proud of his work on the Nolan-Batman trilogy because those are solid, well-made films that – quite honestly – will stand the test of time. Can the same be said for Zach Snyder’s takeover of the DC Comics Universe? Can the same be said of Sad Batfleck and the newest addition, Sad Joker (Jared Leto)? But as long as these movies keep making money, they’ll keep churning them out. The only one I really care about is Wonder Woman. If the DCU screws up Wonder Woman, then can we stop caring about the DCU? Also: I enjoy Cillian’s shade for the Marvel films too. Ha! I might have a little crush on him now too, sorry not sorry Cillian fan-girls.

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Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN.

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54 Responses to “Cillian Murphy throws some shade on the current crop of superhero movies”

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  1. QQ says:

    Come Thru and Tell it My Creepy Kang!

    • Olenna says:

      Ha! He *is* eerily gorgeous.

      • ElleBee says:

        Isn’t he? He is a creepy sexy version of Ian Sommerhalder. He always looks like he may morph into something in the dead of night (but I live for it)

      • Sarah says:

        My retired mum has been taking art classes and thinks he has a beautifully structured face and has been painting and sketching him… I went into her art room and it was like a psycho stalker’s obsession wall… like ten different sketched/painted pictures with different levels of completion. So creepy!!!

    • CTgirl says:

      I started hearing dueling banjos after the second sentence.

  2. tegteg says:

    He is such a babe. And so talented, too. I love superhero movies, but lately they seem to be turning into big, bloated messes. And do we really need another flipping spiderman remake? Nolan’s Batman was brilliant, possibly because it was so human and there wasn’t anything really “super” about the characters, and I don’t think any recent superhero movie has come close to that.

  3. Lucy says:

    Nothing wrong with what he said, it seems to me like they’re just not his thing.

  4. Squiggisbig says:

    He also worked with Nolan in Inception (pretty small role). Nolan seems to work with the same actors over and over which I guess if it ain’t broke don’t fix it….

    There is really no comparison between Nolan’s trilogy and the Marvel dreck. Much better script. Much better actors.

    • Marianne says:

      a lot of directors have a group of actors they like to work with over and over again though.

    • NoName says:

      Marvel dreck?
      I’ll take Cap America: The Winter Soldier and Civil War over Nolan movies any day.
      Nolan didn’t even make superhero movies, he and Warner Brothers are embarrassed of their characters, he made crime thrillers.
      Besides the only memorable thing about The Dark Knight is the Joker. The rest of DC movies is shit.

      • Anon33 says:

        When exactly did Warner Brothers say they were “embarrassed” by the Nolan trilogy? I’ve never heard that.

      • amunet ma'at says:

        True, as a Batman fan, I enjoyed Nolan’s version but it felt like a crime story that I could dissect literarily but it wasn’t a comic book movie. I had to look at those films with a different lens.

  5. Melody says:

    (Sigh) So pretty…

    • WindowChair5 says:

      I agree. Those photos of him are just dreamy. I think i’ll post them as my computer wall paper and just gaze at them all day. It beats work anytime.

    • Lolad says:

      Yes he’s jarring and pretty at the same time.

  6. Grace says:

    I too missed the simpler times where there were only three superheroes: Superman, Batman, Spiderman. These days, I can’t keep up with every other superhero film every one just HAS to see. Good for economy and the yarn that keeps spinning, I suppose.

  7. Marianne says:

    I love the Christopher Nolan Batman films, but I also love the Marvel films (the zack Snyder DCU not so much). I do like what he said about the Chris Nolan films being grounded in “realism” which is why my sister for instance likes them the best. But there are certain characters/worlds where that can’t really work. But I dont think thats a problem. GOTG can have a walking tree and a talking raccoon and it was still fun and kickass as hell, ya know?

    Different strokes for different folks.

    • I Choose Me says:

      I’m with you Marianne. *sings* Sweet Marianne. 🙂

      Just saw Robin Hood Men in Tights last night for the eleventy billionth time. I can’t see or hear the name Marian(ne) without singing the song from the movie.

  8. HH says:

    I enjoy Marvel and DC, so I’m biased to the comic book films. However, I feel like people are making fun of them because they’re an ongoing series of blockbuster, popcorn flicks. However, we’re ALWAYS going to have those type of films. In fact, the money from those films is why studios can take chances on smaller productions. They aren’t there to make you think about life; they’re escapism. And, as long as your telling a good story (thank you, marvel; ahem, DC), then I have no qualms with it.

    • KB says:

      We’re not always going to have them. They will fade out at some point. I thought romantic comedies would always be a dominant genre, but people tire of them eventually.

      Any time something is successful people start complaining about it. And they feel the need to complain about it all the time.

      ETA: Or did you mean always going to have blockbuster, popcorn flicks?

  9. Mia4S says:

    Love it! Although I’m a bit confused? Batman wasn’t British, Bale’s American accent is pretty solid.

    I’ll always admire that Nolan had a clear vision, completed it, and moved on. Bravo. WB/DC should never have tried to copy it, Nolan’s a singular sort of talent (for better or worse)

    The Marvel movies are incredibly well-made, simple, family movies. That’s wonderful. Anyone trying to sell them to me as serious, important, artistic touchstones is getting a side-eye. Please stop.

    • FingerBinger says:

      Murphy means the actor playing batman was british. Bale was and still is the only non american to play batman.

  10. eto says:

    Love me some Cillian! And I agree, they seem to be dredging up every comic book character ever and I don’t know who any of them are.

  11. Sixer says:

    GET OFF HIM, CREEPY KAISER.

    Alien Beauty is mine, all mine. My best shanking shank has that engraved upon it.

    I don’t really like any films that rely on bangs and crashes and explosions. I read my book when the Sixlets watch them. However, if Alien Beauty doesn’t like them and has reasons, well. They’re my reasons, too.

    • Lilacflowers says:

      *Directs Colin and Mark to set up a medical tent for anyone who attempts to come between Alien Beauty and Sixer and survives. Then pours a vodka & tonic and sits back to watch the show*

      • Sixer says:

        I will lay waste to the Earth if impeded in my true lurve for Alien Beauty. No one will survive!

    • bluhare says:

      Hello, Sixer.

      Welcome to my parlor, said the spider to the fly.

  12. jinni says:

    I found the Nolan movies boring as hell. Their realism sucked all of the dark fun out of Batman for me and the majority of the women in the movies were lame.

  13. pikawho? says:

    “Batman in his movies just did a lot of pushups and was, like, British.” Hahahaha, marry me you gorgeous Irish alien.

    I was just watching a cheesy film he did with Paloma Baeza (Alex Garland’s wife) the other day. The crazy thing is that it was made in 1999 and he really hasn’t aged much since then. And the first two Nolan era Batman films are very solid films in their own right, with The Dark Knight being absolutely iconic. The last film is unfortunately, pretty awful. Marion Cotillard’s death scene is so bad, it still cracks
    me up years later. Still better than the cheesy acting and cheap looking CGI in the latest Marvel films (are they seriously using the same companies as the Syfy channel or something?)

  14. Locke Lamora says:

    I love Cillian, but I find it funny how actors always say superhero movies are bad, apart from their film. Romcoms are bad, apart from their film. Silly comedies are bad apart from their film. Etc.
    I also prefer the darker, more realistic superhero movies ala DC, and Dark Knight are the best superhero movies, much better than any Marvel ones. The new DC movies have problems with screenplays and directing, but especially woth casting. Superman is the most boring superhero, so I never find his films interesting, but castig Cavill was a huge mistake. It made a dull superhero duller. Affleck wasn’t a great choice either. Leto as Joker seems to be a disappointment too.
    I’m looking forward to WW, but Gal has been so bad in everything I saw her in I’m really worried.

  15. Kate says:

    Tommy Shelby!!!! *heart eyes*

  16. Ji-yun says:

    First thing I saw him in was Disco PIgs. He was phenomenal in that and I suggest if you only know him from his (too infrequent) Hollywood roles or Peaky Blinders should get a hold of that indie film. Creepy but good.

  17. Abby says:

    Ah he’s so creepy and hot. I agree with him to a degree. I’m not a comic book movie fan. At all. I didn’t even like batman, but Batman Begins is and was one of my most favorite movies because it was more “real” and less dependent on superpowers. The trilogy is one of my favorites!!

    I watch other comic book movies to please my husband, because he joyfully watches period pieces with me. And Downton Abbey. I like Iron Man… The first one, because I love Robert Downey Jr. I like watching Chris hemsworth and hiddleston, but I dislike the over the top fantasy stuff.

  18. Rose says:

    Abouttime you had a crush on him Kaiser, what took you so long!?

  19. JenniferJustice says:

    I’m with Kaiser. At this point, it’s all about Wonder Woman….and Aqua Man. I didn’t like the Affleck Batman, but Wonder Woman was amazing – what little bit we got to see of her. And Jason Mamoa as Aqua Man – just that one little peak of him….has me waiting with baited breath.

  20. Lucy says:

    Forgot to add: I do enjoy superhero flicks, occassionally, but I must admit I did get a good chuckle from realizing most of these years’s ones were flops, while Deadpool, the raunchy, annoying anti-hero with the small budget, just laughed his ass off all the way to the bank. He’s probably still doing it.

  21. Tourmaline says:

    Ooh Red Eye, that was a good movie, he was the handsome, charming-turned ultra creepy airplane seatmate of Rachel McAdams.

    • Abby says:

      Yes! I saw that one in college, came home to an empty apartment and made my roommate talk to me on the phone while I walked around opening shower curtains and closets because it gave me the heebie jeebies. He was so good in that!

  22. Lisa says:

    OT but as a WWII history freak, I’m looking forward to seeing the gorgeous and talented Cillian and yes, Jamie Dornan, in Anthropoid. Not only is the story really interesting to me but I’ll get to look at two gorgeous men for the price of a movie ticket.

  23. Jasmine says:

    I love him in Peaky Blinders 😍

  24. ria says:

    Loved him in Sunshine, cried so much at the end.

  25. Starkiller says:

    Uh. I seem to recall him willingly appearing on several Batman movies. They don’t count?

    What a sanctimonious ass, and a hypocrite to boot.

  26. SM says:

    I laughed at his comment on comic book movies. I can relate to that. We, Europeans are not exposed to the universe of comic books and there is no culture to read comic books to childeren and so every time I see a new trailler with a new supwrhero or superhero story I also do get that question “how many of them are there really?!!??” Or are you guys just making new up as you go along. But I watched Watchmen and then was exposed to some of the comics by one of my students at the university and I realized that it’s a cultural thing. Superhero stories for me as far as I understand resonate a lot with the political situation and worl events. And now I think it may be a very good tool to rise important questions but sugarcoat it in popular product. When you look at this this way it actually is quite a smart thing and kind of awesome. Not all fims of course are like that and i can’t say I saw many of them but if done right it may be more that just a pop crap smart people/real artists should shade

  27. vv007 says:

    Love him in Peaky Blinders. That show is fantastic.

  28. notsoanonymous says:

    I can’t ever get past how much he looks like my beautiful but horrifically awful ex from my 20s. Same skin with super light freckles, same hair color and eye color, same super chiseled facial / bone structure. I found my ex creepy, I find Cillian creepy, and I probably couldn’t resist either one.

  29. Abby says:

    oh well I forgot that Channing Tatum is going to be a comic book hero so… I’ll be signing up for that one.

    I never read comics or anything, so I don’t know any of the stories!

  30. amba says:

    Guess the phone calls from Marvel weren’t forthcoming: ’bout six months ago, our blue-eyed lad was gushing about how he and his family just LOVE Marvel’s superhero flicks and how much he wished there was a Marvel franchise with a role for him– hint, hint.

    (Oh, and I think Nolan’s Bat-films were a pile of muddled, bombastic, depressing sludge.)

  31. AnotherDirtyMartini says:

    He’s hot, and he’s pretty. He makes a gorgeous woman – Google him dressed as a woman. He does have perfect pouty lips & symmetrical features – the kind actresses try to get & wind up with trout pout & a wonky nosejob! His eyes are gorge…his skin. Now who sounds creepy? When I first saw him in a movie, he scared the crap out of me. He plays creepy very well.