CILLIAN PLAYS A BLINDER!

The role of Oppenheimer was a challenge for the Irish actor, who adds an Oscar to his glittering array of awards 

- NICI DE WET

AS FAR as the director was concerned there was only one person for the job - a slender Irishman with ice-blue eyes and a penchant for throwing himself into every role he's had with single-minded focus.

And has it ever paid off. Cillian Murphy has been the runaway star of this year's award season, pocketing every best actor gong going - including the big daddy of them all, the Oscar.

"I'm a very proud Irishman standing here tonight," said Cillian, who was also the first Irishman to win a best actor Oscar.

The 47-year-old made Hollywood's sparkliest night a family affair, walking the red carpet with his wife, visual artist Yvonne McGuinness, and watched by their sons, Malachy (18) and Aran (16), in the audience.

"I love you all so much," he said during his emotional acceptance speech.

After his tour de force in Oppenheimer, which cleaned up at the Academy Awards and was one of 2023's biggest box-office earners, the industry loves him too. But it's Christopher Nolan, the brains behind the movie and the winner of the best director Oscar, who probably loves him the most.

Cillian has appeared in six of the British filmmaker's movies, stretching back to 2005's Batman Begins, where he played the terrifying villain Dr Crane/Scarecrow opposite Christian Bale's Batman.

The Irish actor went on to appear in the next two Dark Knight movies as well as 2010's Inception and Christopher's critically acclaimed World War 2 drama, Dunkirk.

However, he'd always been waiting in the wings for a leading role - and when Christopher called to offer him the role of J Robert Oppenheimer, the tortured father of the atomic bomb, he hung up the phone in disbelief.

"I've always said to Chris that if I'm available and if he wants me to be in a movie, I'm there. I don't really care about the size of the part," he told Associated Press.

"But deep down, secretly, I was desperate to play a lead for him."