Someone recently posted the list of the past ten years of Best Actor Oscar winners, and it shocked me to see that Cillian Murphy was basically only one of three winners who really turned in an iconic, important performance. Cillian also backed up his big Oscar win by… returning to his offbeat, art-house roots and returning to the character Thomas Shelby on Peaky Blinders. Cillian has been promoting the film Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, and he recently chatted with Elle Magazine about the sleep masks, his life after Oppenheimer and his awe for women. Some highlights:
On his wife: “Oh man, she’s right about most things. Women are infinite in their wisdom. I was raised by my mother and my grandmother, who lived with us for all our lives. I have two sisters who are amazing humans. I’ve always felt that women have a more instinctual understanding of right and wrong and how the world works. Even in this TV show and in the film, characters like Ada and Aunt Polly—they know what’s going on. The men are blowing up and shouting and drinking and fighting.
Costars who amazed him: “Two Emilys: Watson and Blunt. Magnificent artists.”
Something he wishes he could do better: “Could we do the whole interview on this? DIY. I’m unbelievably stupid. I don’t think I’ve ever changed a plug. I’ve never changed a tire. I just faff around and get hysterical and can’t do anything. My wife is really good at it all.
Whether he would write a memoir: “There’s enough solipsism in the world now without me adding to that. It will never happen.
His travel must-haves: “One is such a cliché: I like to take my guitar. And then the second is, as a present I got this incredible silk eye mask. It’s this one that wraps around the whole top of your face, all around your ears, completely silk. A lot of times you’ll end up with a room overlooking, you know, a car park, and you’ve got to try to sleep. This thing [is] so outrageously soft. And then I just put in some earplugs and I’m gone.
The idea of Cillian Murphy buying himself a silk sleep mask and really enjoying the hell out of it… I love it. I just looked it up… the high-end silk sleep masks are generally under $100. LOL, I think many people, after winning an Oscar, would buy themselves a new car or a new home or some big-ticket item. Not Cillian – a humble $80 silk sleep mask for when he’s traveling and he’s good to go. As for what he says about women… “Women are infinite in their wisdom…I’ve always felt that women have a more instinctual understanding of right and wrong and how the world works.” I agree? Maybe it’s a nature-versus-nurture debate, but I genuinely believe that (most) girls are born with an inherent sense of fairness and/or justice, for lack of a better word.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
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- Celebrities arrive at the 2026 BAFTA Film Awards at Royal Festival Hall, London Featuring: Cillian Murphy and Yvonne McGuinness Where: London, United Kingdom When: 22 Feb 2026 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Arrivals for the New York premiere of Netflix’s ‘Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man’ Featuring: Cillian Murphy Where: New York City, New York, United States When: 10 Mar 2026 Credit: Roger Wong/INSTARimages
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- Berlin premiere of ‘Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man’ at Kino International Featuring: Cillian Murphy Where: Berlin, Germany When: 12 Mar 2026 Credit: Dan Herrick/Future Image/Cover Images **NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN GERMANY**
The praise of women is nice but honestly, men drink and fight because they CAN. They have the women in their lives to keep up the morality because who else would? Women appreciate justice more because we have more experience with injustice. Men know right from wrong just as well, we were all taught the same as children. Women just CARE more than men because men get away with selfishness SO much more easily. If women decided we wanted to just be selfish, drink, fight, and leave it to them men to pick up the moral slack, wgat would happen? We are the mommies SO that men can be the perpetual teenagers.
I wish I could like your comment…. 100000% agree with you
So.much.this. After reading the quote and the comment in context, I’m fine with what he’s saying, but in general that mentality is used to justify boys will be boys behavior. The fools who say with one breath that men can help themselves. Bad behavior is in their nature. And in the next breath insist that women should
… have childlike legal status and be dependent on men. The “women are better than us” BS is somehow rarely ever tied to supporting women’s legal autonomy.
Exactly. Women “know better” about right and wrong the way they “know better” about how to change a diaper, do laundry and mop a floor. If it’s an unpaid chore, then women know better.
Anthropologists now say that the human race was never intended to be a patriarchy. It evolved that way because of male brute strength which is their one advantage. And men are very hierarchical which is a big problem if you want a fair and just world. Women know innately that societies need cooperation and social support in order to thrive. Matriarchy is the way to go so that everyone is treated fairly. It’s nice to dream. 🙄
After his Oscar win, he also had a small film made in 2024. Cillian had obtained the book rights. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, through their company Artists Equity, were one of the producers. It’s called “Small Things Like These.” It’s a period piece where Cillian’s character delivers coal to a convent in Ireland and sees a teenage girl being brought there by force. It is an incredibly slow movie with little dialogue. Cillian is brilliant in it. It’s a specific kind of movie, though, and not for everyone. I enjoyed it. The movie is really focused on his character.
As one critic described it: “I suspect it may be too lowkey for people, but it is a film that whispers its story to you and I found it very moving.”
That sounds interesting but I might read the book instead. I have more tolerance for slow moving books.
Until proven otherwise, I’m going to believe he doesn’t intend to be condescending to women. He was so young in Breakfast on Pluto, and I want to believe he must have been naturally inclined to understanding the challenges of marginalized people (which run the spectrum in the film) or absorbed a lot from it.
[update] It’s on Disney+ and I’m watching right now.
The book is lovely too, and is novella length, not a long read.
Every time I read something about this man, I fall in love with him more. His wife is genuinely a very lucky woman.
I can 100% visualize this:
“I’ve never changed a tire. I just faff around and get hysterical and can’t do anything.”
Bull pucky. Men get away with more than women do. I was taught from a very young age actions have consequences. You have to decide if it’s worth the risk.
Can’t say I completely agree with him seeing all the MAGA Karens out there. But there are far more criminals that are male. Plus the best artist he’s worked with is Emily blunt? Don’t see that either but I’m not her fan. Not quite Kaiser’s level of intolerance for Laura Dern but it’s close.
ITA! I find my people on here so often. Emily Blunt just grates. I don’t get her appeal at all.
This is a backhanded compliment that doesn’t pass the smell test. Women don’t ‘know’ right from wrong better than men. It’s about consequences and advantages, which men suffer far fewer of the former and enjoy much greater of the latter.
Oh Cillian, if only the public knew you’ve been cheating on your ‘amazing’ wife since the 90s. Truly in awe of the image he’s built up. He propositioned my gorgeous friend out on the tube back in 2012. He was wearing a ring. He knows his wife will never divorce him. He never cheats in Ireland bc people talk – saves it for elsewhere.
Be careful with men like this. If they seem to be too good to be true, that is because they are.,,,