Cillian Murphy: At the peak of his craft

Cillian Murphy’s new film called for his most extreme physical transformation yet – a rapid 6kg of weight loss, he tells Shilpa Ganatra.

With his distinctive cheekbones and baby blues, it’s a wonder Cillian Murphy remains a convincing shapeshifter on screen. He’s gone from 17th century Danish butcher’s boy (The Girl with a Pearl Earring) to Scarecrow (the Dark Knight trilogy) to an Irish rebel (The Wind That Shakes The Barley), to a trans-woman (Breakfast on Pluto), with the benefit of a mask in only one of these roles. Guess which one.

Yet in new film In the Heart of the Sea, based on the story that inspired Moby Dick, the Cork native’s physical transformation is arguably the most extreme, requiring a rapid 6kg weight loss to turn him into a shipwrecked sailor at the end of his physical limit.