Cillian Murphy has reacted to being the most “memed” person on the internet.
During an interview with the Financial Times HTSI (How To Spend It) magazine, the Irish actor confessed: “Everyone knows that I’m the most f***ing memed awkward person on the internet.”
Cillian regularly gets the meme treatment on social media, including a viral video of him looking uncomfortable on the way into the Golden Globes with captions such as, “When you sign up for something when you’re feeling extroverted and now you have to attend.”
@graziauk Same #cillianmurphy, same 😠#goldenglobes2024 #oppenheimer ♬ original sound – GraziaUK
He joked and asked: “Can’t I just be normal? It is nuts, you know?”
Even his Oppenheimer co-star Emily Blunt acknowledged this, and previously called him “the world’s best actor and the world’s worst celebrity.”
Speaking to the magazine, Cillian also admitted that he thinks “it’s bizarre” that he won an Oscar at the Academy Awards last month.
The Cork native confessed he still thinks “What the f**k?” when he looks at his award.
Cillian won the Oscar for Best Actor at the 2024 Academy Awards in March, for his performance in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer.
He revealed: “It’s bizarre. I see it and think ‘What the f**k’ and get a shock.”
He also spoke about how proud he was to be “representing” Ireland, four weeks on from his career-defining win.
During his touching Oscars acceptance speech, Cillian gushed over being a “proud Irishman”, before signing off with: “Go raibh mÃle maith agaibh.”
“The Oscars looms very large in our cultural landscape. I remember as a kid when Daniel Day-Lewis Brenda Fricker and Neil Jordan won. They’re massive,” he said.
Cillian said he “felt very strongly about my Irish identity” while accepting the award.
“It was very prominent in my thoughts because it’s an American awards ceremony, and you do feel as though you are representing,” he explained.
“And because you’re aware of how much people at home are invested in it. You want to be the best you can.”
Cillian was supported throughout awards season by his wife Yvonne McGuinness, and said he went into it with an “open heart”.
“I’m enjoying it, because I’m choosing to enjoy it, and I think there’s a distinction,” he said.
“And this is celebrating the work that we did, and you have to go into it with an open heart.”
He also admitted he “couldn’t have got through” the intense awards season without his Oppenheimer co-stars Emily Blunt and Robert Downey Jr, who he called his “surrogate family”.
“Emily is a best friend – and Downey. They’re such good people, I’m really lucky. Also, we have a laugh,” Cillian added.
