2023 has been a year of interesting partnerships on the big screen. Ant-Man and the Wasp in Ant-Man 3, Barbie and Ken in Barbie, and Rocket Racoon and Groot in Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol.

3 all impressed fans in their unique way. Behind the scenes, however, there’s only one partnership that truly left fans in awe: Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy.

The iconic director-actor duo reunited for the documentary feature on the Father of the Atomic Bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer.

In what was their sixth movie together, the Irishman led Nolan’s movie for the first time, and considering its box office success ($865m in the worldwide collection), it seems we’d be blessed with more of the same down the road.

Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy shooting Oppenheimer.
The road to Oppenheimer wasn’t easy for Murphy and included the actor wearing a bag over his head multiple times.

A Look at Cillian Murphy and Christopher Nolan’s Relationship and the Latter’s Obsession With Bags

Cillian Murphy and Christopher Nolan worked together for the first time in 2005 for Batman Begins.

The movie not only started the iconic Christian Bale-led franchise but also Nolan’s obsession with putting bags over Murphy’s head.

Cillian Murphy as Scarecrow.
Initially, the Irish actor auditioned for Bale’s role of Bruce Wayne. As we all know, things didn’t work out.

But Nolan must’ve seen something special in the young talent and instead offered him the role of the movie’s antagonist, Jonathan “Scarecrow” Crane.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Murphy described his character as, “The villain that never died!” Nolan agreed, and added: “He’s still out there, still with a bag on his head.” 

In a separate interview with Josh Horowitz for the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Murphy was quizzed about his thoughts on playing a character through three movies who is wearing a bag over his head, to which he replied: “I think it got progressively more bag heavy as the trilogy went on.”

The 47-year-old remarked that he also had a bag on his head [bridge scene] in the movie Inception (2010). 

What’s Cillian Murphy’s Role in Dunkirk and Does He Wear a Bag Over His Head?

While answering Horowitz’s question, the Peaky Blinders star shared an interesting conversation (Yes! about wearing a bag) he held with Nolan before joining the Dunkirk project.

Cillian Murphy in Dunkirk.
Murphy revealed in the same episode of Happy Sad Confused: “Every actor loves a mask, I suppose, but for four movies? I do remember when he called me up for Dunkirk. That was the first question [about the mask] I asked him.”

Murphy played a nameless character, Shivering Soldier, in Nolan’s war action movie. He comes aboard Mr. Dawson’s boat thinking they’re heading to England.

After discovering they’re Dunkirk-bound, the soldier becomes more erratic.

Such was the Oppenheimer star’s performance that he didn’t need any name to make his mark in the 2017 hit.