Cillian Murphy Excited for The Odyssey: “Only Nolan Could Take On This Challenge”
According to CinemaDrame News Agency, Cillian Murphy says he is eager to see Christopher Nolan’s upcoming epic The Odyssey. Two years ago, Murphy won the Oscar for Best Actor for Nolan’s Oppenheimer, but at the Toronto International Film Festival he told Variety that he actually feels a sense of “relief” at not being part of the director’s new project.
He said: “I’ve got FOMO relief. I’m excited to see it. If there’s one filmmaker who should take on the challenge of The Odyssey, it has to be Christopher Nolan.”
Murphy is currently working on Steve, directed by Tim Mielants and adapted from Max Porter’s novel. The film will be the first project from Murphy’s production company, Big Things Films. Porter’s book depicts 24 hours in the life of Steve, a correctional institution manager in the 1990s, as he tries to guide his students while grappling with his own psychological struggles. The cast also includes Tracey Ullman, Synnøve Karlsen, and Emily Watson.
As one of the film’s producers, Murphy added that the screenplay for Steve came together quickly: “If we’re going to spend all this time making it, it has to have something to say—not in a pretentious way. I like a little ambition. But hopefully, it stirs things up.”
He has previously admitted that he was glad not to be part of Nolan’s Interstellar: “Honestly, I wasn’t upset. Because that way I could go to the cinema and enjoy it without having to watch myself on screen.”
