Dinner plans between Matt Damon and Cillian Murphy didn’t quite go according to plan, but for good reason.
In a 60 Minutes interview that aired over the weekend, Cillian reacted to his Oppenheimer co-star calling him the “worst dinner companion imaginable” while they were working on the Christopher Nolan epic together.
“What he meant by that was when you’re working on a film, when you’re being the character, there’s very little room in your head for anything else,” 60 Minutes host Scott Pelley, explained to the Irish actor.
Laughing, the Peaky Blinders star replied: “I’ve always been like that, I think.”
“It’s because, to me, you have the time on set, which is a short enough time. You have 10 hours, maybe. And then the other part, if you’ve got a significant part, you’re having to keep your lines fresh,” he continued.
Cillian also said getting rest is a major necessity for him while filming.
“And then the other big thing for me is sleeping. I love sleeping, and I need sleep,” he shared.
But according to Cillian, he’s enjoyed more than a few outings with the Air actor now that filming has wrapped.
“I’ve had lots of lovely dinners with Matt Damon since the movie has finished, and we’ve been out promoting it and stuff,” he revealed. “At the time, yeah, you just don’t have the room in your head, and you want as much sleep as possible.”
Back in July, his Oppenheimer co-stars Matt Damon and Emily Blunt revealed that Cillian skipped out on their nightly cast dinners while filming for the sake of maintaining his diet for his role as J. Robert Oppenheimer, the American theoretical physicist who is credited for developing the atomic bomb.
“We invited Cillian to dinner every night, and he never went,” Matt told Entertainment Tonight, with Emily noting that Cillian noshed on “one almond most nights or a little slice of apple” instead.
In a separate interview with People, Emily added: “The sheer volume of what [Murphy] had to take on [for the role] and shoulder is so monumental. Of course, he didn’t want to come and have dinner with us.”
Christopher Nolan’s film Oppenheimer has been nominated for 13 Academy Awards this year, including a nod for Cillian in the Best Actor category.
