Cillian Murphy compares Oscars success to Italia 90
Cillian Murphy poses in the press room with the award for best performance by an actor in a leading role for "Oppenheimer" at the Oscars on Sunday, March 10, 2024, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Picture: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
Cillian Murphy compared his Oscar win to "Italia 90" speaking to fellow Irish man and co-chief executive and founder of Irish production company Element Pictures Ed Guiney following his momentous win.
"I was chatting to him earlier in the evening just wishing him well, we worked with him a lot and love him to bits.. we were very hopeful, that he would win and he said to me 'It's a bit like Italia 90, isn't it?'," Mr Guiney said.
The Cork native made headlines across the globe as he became the first Irish-born person to win an Oscar for best Actor at the 96th Academy Awards on Sunday.
"People are kind of so wholehearted and so supportive and positive about what's going on here, so we're all incredibly proud. And I was so proud of him, he's incredible. It's lovely to be here with him and to be part of the whole thing,” Mr Guiney said.
Dublin-based production company Element Pictures has taken home four Oscars for , marking the most wins for an Irish-produced film ever.
This brings the total number of Academy Awards won by the Element to six, more than any other Irish production company has won in the history of the awards.
tells the story of a dead woman who was revived by scientists and runs off with a debauched lawyer to embark on an odyssey of self-discovery and sexual liberation.
The film, produced and developed by Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe of Element Pictures, was awarded four awards at the LA awards ceremony on Sunday, including best actress for Emma Stone, best production design, best makeup and hairstyling and best costume design.
Speaking to RTÉ's , Mr Guiney expressed his gratitude following the awards ceremony, saying they were “thrilled” with their awards, particularly with the best actress award, due to the “competitive” year in film.
The awards help to honour the winners with “visibility” and sanction their films for audiences in a way, he explained.
“I suppose maybe more importantly for us it's a reputational thing. In other words, the film gets cemented as a film that hopefully people will remember in years to come, and people will continue to find over time,” he said.
“That's, I guess, why we do these things is we want to make something that people know about and continue to watch over time,” he added.
The movie has already won five Baftas, two Golden Globes and a host of other awards including a critics choice movie award and the Golden Lion at Venice International Film Festival.
The film also received 11 Oscar nominations, making it the second most nominated film at this year’s award ceremony, behind , with 13 nominations.
Since its establishment in 2001, the production company has had 26 Oscar nominations, with credits including Lenny Abrahamson’s hit series as well as Oscar and Bafta winning films, and .
Co chief executives and founders of Element Pictures, producers Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe, described the awards as an “absolute honour”, adding: “We were delighted to have been nominated for these awards and to get that recognition from the academy for our immensely talented cast and creative team on was amazing but to win four awards is truly a dream come true.
“This was an incredible project to work on with our brilliant director Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone, our phenomenal lead actress and producing partner and we are so delighted she won best actress,” they added.
The men said it was “particularly gratifying” to receive recognition for their “imaginative, ambitious” team, who have put immense work into the film “in service of a unique directorial vision”.
