Peaky Blinders' Cillian Murphy's dramatic weight loss transformation for blockbuster role

PEAKY BLINDERS star Cillian Murphy has undergone a major weight loss transformation for his new role in the upcoming blockbuster Oppenheimer.

By Hannah McGreevy, Senior Showbiz Reporter

Cillian Murphy talks Peaky Blinders

Cillian Murphy has lost a huge amount of weight for his exciting new role in an American blockbuster. The star will play theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer in the upcoming film.

Cillian, 46, has reportedly lost a stone to play the famous theoretical physicist, who is credited as being the “father of the atomic bomb”.

The actor is best known for playing Thomas Shelby, leader of the Peaky Blinders in the iconic BBC series. 

However, the star looked rather different while he was filming in Los Angeles for Christopher Nolan’s latest cinematic offering. 

Worlds away from the suave, well-dressed gangster he is known for portraying, Cillian instead looked rather gaunt. 

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Cillian

Cillian is in Christopher Nolan's new film (Image: GETTY/BBC)

Cillian

Cillian was spotted looking rather on the skinny side (Image: GETTY)

Pictures showed him wearing a loose-fitting grey suit with a white button-up shirt, suspenders and a short green tie. 

He wore a large brown brimmed hat, which covered much of his face, and some black formal dress shoes on his feet.

While his character Thomas had an intimidating stature, his new character appears to be rather frail-looking, and the change to Cillian’s face caused by the weight loss was noticeable.  

Last month, Cillian was also spotted filming scenes for Oppenheimer in Princeton, New Jersey.

Cillian

Cillian will play the 'father of the atomic bomb' (Image: GETTY)

Cillian

Cillian is best known for playing Tommy Shelby on the BBC's Peaky Blinders (Image: GETTY)

This is not the first time Cillian has teamed up with iconic film director Christopher.

The actor has previously appeared in his acclaimed Dark Knight trilogy as the character Scarecrow. 

Oppenheimer, which takes place around the time of the Second World War, is being brought to cinemas by Universal studios. 

Kenneth Branagh has been added to the call sheet, along with actor Michael Angarano.

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Plenty of other famous actors are joining Cillian for the ambitious piece, including Robert Downey Jr, Florence Pugh, Rami Malek, Gary Oldman and Casey Affleck.

Emily Blunt will star as Kitty Oppenheimer, while Matt Damon will play General Leslie R Groves. 

In real life, Matt’s character was the commanding general of the Manhattan Project which built and tested the world's first atomic weapons.

The movie is based on American Prometheus, a biography of Oppenheimer written by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin.

The film will be released three years after Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi film Tenet, which came out in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Christopher proved his aptitude for war films after directing the acclaimed film Dunkirk, which was released back in 2017.

His other popular movies include Inception, Interstellar, The Prestige and Memento.

Oppenheimer will be released in cinemas on July 21, 2023.

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