Cillian Murphy changed his look for a new photo shoot with GQ, seemingly inspired by his friend and fellow countryman Barry Keoghan.
The Oppenheimer actor, 47, and the Saltburn star, 31, battled it out for the gongs this year.
However, it was Cillian who took home the Best Actor award at the Golden Globes and bagged the Oscar nomination, leaving Barry in the dust.
Despite coming out on top, it seems Cillian is still inspired by his friend, who took to the red carpets in spectacular fashion.
Stepping away from his usually safe but stylish wardrobe, Cillian modeled a series of daring looks, including a bright blue satin shirt on the cover of the magazine.
Cillian Murphy changed his look for a new photo shoot with GQ, seemingly inspired by his friend and fellow countryman Barry Keoghan
The Oppenheimer actor, 47, and the Saltburn star, 31, battled it out for the gongs this year
Baring his hairy chest in a low-cut black top, Cillian’s outfit was styled with black jeans and a statement belt, along with an array of beads and gold jewelry.
Cillian posed on plush red and pink upholstery while holding a blue tie-dye cushion during the decidedly quirky shoot for GQ’s March issue.
In another photo, Cillian wore a cardigan – which turned out to be a favorite of Barry’s – with matching trousers and an abundance of bracelets and necklaces.
Speaking to the men’s monthly magazine, Cillian told how he is trying to do one year of filming and is happy to be ‘unemployed’ while he waits for the right new film.
He said: ‘I have a few friends who are actors, but the majority of them are not. Most of my friends are not in the business.
‘I also enjoy not working. And I think a lot of exploration as an actor for me is just living a life, and you know, living a normal life, doing normal things and just being able to observe and be in that kind of beautiful flow of things. humanity.
“If you can’t do that because you’re going from film festival to film set to promotions… then I mean that’s The Bubble. I’m not saying it makes you any better or worse as an actor, but it’s just a world I couldn’t exist in. I think it would be very limiting to what you can experience as a human being, you know?’
Despite coming out on top, it seems Cillian is still inspired by his friend, who has taken to the red carpets in spectacular fashion (pictured at the Golden Globes in January)
Cillian stepped away from his usually safe but stylish wardrobe (pictured at the Oscar nominees’ lunch) and modeled a series of daring looks
Elsewhere during the interview, Cillian discussed his rise to fame following the success of Peaky Blinders and Christopher Nolan epic Oppenheimer.
He said: ‘For me it always seems to come in waves. When Peaky was at his peak you felt a different energy when you walked around, a bit like I do now, but then it calms down again. It kind of comes in waves.
‘And then you don’t have anything in the cinema for a long time and people forget about it. So. It seems to be like that, and you ride that a little bit, and then everything goes back to normal.”
Although Cillian said he would be happy to talk to fans, he is pushing for a no-photos policy.
He said: ‘I started doing that once. It has changed my life. I think it’s better to say hello and have a chat.
“I tell that to a lot of people, you know, actor friends of mine, and they say, I feel so bad. But you don’t need a photo record of where you’ve been in a day.’
Cillian is currently tipped as the frontrunner to receive the Best Actor prize at the Academy Awards next month.
Elsewhere during the interview, Cillian discussed his rise to fame following the success of Peaky Blinders and Christopher Nolan epic Oppenheimer (pictured)
Discussing how he became involved with Nolan’s project, Cillian revealed how the director flew to Ireland with a script for his top-secret new film printed on red paper.
He explained, “Which is supposedly photocopy proof.” Every previous Nolan script had been delivered by Nolan or one of his family members, he tells GQ.
“So it was his mother who got me the script before. Or his brother, he goes away and comes back in three hours.
“Some of it has to do with keeping the story secret before it comes out. But part of it has to do with tradition. They’ve always done it this way, so why stop now? It does add a ritual to it, which I really appreciate. It fits me.’
Revealing what it’s like to work on a Nolan set, he said: ‘When I’m on a Chris set, it feels a bit like a private, intimate laboratory. Even though he works at a tremendous pace, there’s always room for curiosity and discovering things, and that’s what making art should be about, you know?
‘There are no telephones, but no announcement either: everyone just knows. And there are no chairs. Because he won’t sit down.
‘Sometimes a film set can look like a picnic. Everyone has their chairs and their snacks and everyone’s texting and showing each other f–king, you know, emojis or whatever, memes, which I know -” he says, obliquely referring to a Cillian Murphy meme that don’t know what a meme is. . ‘But why?’
The March issue of British GQ is available via digital download and on newsstands on February 27.