Before he returns for the Netflix movie Peaky Blinders, it looks like Cillian Murphy’s new historical drama Small Things Like These will make me cry
As Cillian Murphy prepares to reprise his role as the fearsome gangster Tommy Shelby in the upcoming Netflix series Peaky Blinders film, his intense performance in the trailer for the new film Little things like this is just as goosebump-inducing.
After Murphy’s well-deserved Oscar win for his performance as J. Robert Oppenheimer in Christopher Nolan’s explosive biopic Oppenheimer, his next intense role comes in the form of a historical drama Little things like this. Based on Claire Keegan’s novel of the same name, Murphy shows his character Bill Furlong in the spooky and grim trailer (see below) that is far removed from Oppenheimer.
In the trailer, the quiet and melancholic Furlong works in the coal mines and is absorbed in the dark, gloomy surroundings. However, when he sees a young woman being forced into a convent, his disturbing discovery of abuse in the Irish rural community forces him to confront his own past traumas and risk upsetting the town by exposing the exploitation.
It is certainly not a light film, as it deals with painful themes. Murphy is at the center of a film that is intoxicating and emotional. I think he can win his next Oscar with this.
Little things like this add up to big things
Little things like this is a film adaptation of Claire Keegan’s best-selling novel. The story follows Bill Furlong, a hard-working coal merchant and father struggling with his traumatic past when he discovers that secret wrongdoings are taking place in the monastery in the small Irish town of New Ross.
These ordeals are inspired by the true story of the Magdalene Laundries, a group of workhouses and asylums run by the Catholic Church where ‘fallen women’, such as unwed mothers and orphans, were physically and mentally abused in horrific conditions.
Furlong struggles with the battle against the powerful and corrupt institution and his own past suffering, while reflecting on his mother’s death and his daughters’ lives after such a barbaric revelation.
Produced by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s company Artists Equity, Murphy said Vanity Fair on how he convinced Damon to take on the project: “I gave the script to Matt (Damon) when we were shooting, and he loved it. I remember saying it’s a different movie, but it would share a thematic crossover with Manchester by the sea, which Matt also producedβ¦. It was like I was pitching between Manchester by the sea And Doubt.“
Little things like this Also starring is Eileen Walsh as Furlong’s wife Eileen, Michelle Fairley as Mrs. Wilson, Emily Watson as Sister Mary and Clare Dunne as Sister Carmel.