Today we will look back over their career together to find out why they make such a great pairing. We will also look at their upcoming collaboration, this year’s Oppenheimer.

Murphy and Nolan Begins

Nolan and Murphy first worked together on Batman Begins. In the first movie of the celebrated Dark Knight trilogy, Murphy played Dr. Jonathan Crane aka Scarecrow. The secondary antagonist creates a fear-inducing toxin to help Ra’s al Ghul destroy Gotham. Despite being dispatched rather easily he later returns with his fear drug dealing introducing Batman in The Dark Knight and later becoming a judge left to decide the fate of the rich and the police in The Dark Knight Rises.

Murphy also played Robert Fischer in the sci-fi thriller Inception. The C.E.O. whose mind Cobb and his team are sent to implant an idea inside of. Finally, in Dunkirk, he played the Shivering Soldier who delivered a dire warning to a civilian rescue boat heading to the title beach.

With these roles varying so much in prominence one wonders why Murphy keeps teaming up with Nolan? Well, the reason is simple, Murphy often gives his films the emotional or thematic resonance they need to work.

A Scene Stealer

In the Dark Knight trilogy, Murphy provided one of the first glimpses of the series’ key grounded reimaginings of Batman’s rogues’ gallery. For the film to wholly work, Murphy had to make the monstrous supervillain Scarecrow feel like a real person. But Murphy plays Crane with flawless believability. Outwardly a seemingly passive person who relishes the chance to exert power over others. The perfect counterpoint to Bruce Wayne’s journey and a perfect realistic realisation of the man who loves stoking fear in others.

Murphy also brings subtlety and pathos to Robert Fischer, whose insecurities regarding his relationship with his father provide the basis for Inception’s heist. Murphy’s changes in manner as Cobb and his team slowly work on Fischer’s subconscious is a masterclass in understatement. The ending of Cobb’s story would have been fine alone. However, Murphy’s performance in Fischer’s parallel narrative elevates the emotional impact of the story and the other actors’ work.

Finally, as the Shivering Soldier Murphy is tasked with personifying the horrors suffered in war. He’s there to show the civilian boat the hell they are going into. Murphy does this so successfully that when the civilians head to Dunkirk anyway it makes everything even more impactful.

This is why the pair work so well. Murphy is always able to provide thematically weighty performances that get audiences invested. While through his considered writing and direction Nolan is able to make Murphy’s talents shine.

“My best memories of working on Christopher Nolan films are never the large-scale stuff. It’s the very involved, intensely focused, extremely rigorous work, with Chris right there beside the camera.”

Cillian Murphy, NME

“I’ve always known since I first met him – however many years ago it is now, almost 20 years – that he is one of the great actors, not just of his generation, but of all time.”

Christopher Nolan on Cillian Murphy, Far Out Magazine

Leading Oppenheimer

This year Murphy will finally be leading a Nolan project as the titular J. Robert Oppenheimer, “father of the atomic bomb”. Nolan has certainly picked the perfect lead for Oppenheimer.

Amongst the all-star cast and sure-to-be spectacular effects sequences depicting the trinity bomb test, at its centre will be Murphy who has already demonstrated throughout Nolan’s work that he can lift the incredible work of the actors around him, ground an extraordinary character in reality and embody someone who knows the true face of horror. This coupled with the personal research Murphy has undertaken undoubtedly makes him the best actor to depict the person who helped create one of the most deadly devices in history and who famously quoted, “Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds”?

Also Read: The Anatomy of a Christopher Nolan Film

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Stuart Clive Shorter – Stuart: A Life Backwards

Stuart provides a blueprint for what Tom Hardy would later do with many of his roles. Focusing on every aspect of his performance he reportedly losing nearly 30 pounds for the role; adopted a limp and a slurred voice to play the titular “homeless, sociopathic, junkie“. There’s something brutally honest about Hardy’s portrayal of Stuart. He doesn’t feel Hollywoodized, he feels like a real person. The script also requires Hardy to go to a lot of different places. This results in him being equal parts scary, charming, funny, and disturbing but Hardy pulls it off flawlessly. In lesser hands, Stuart could’ve simply been a one-note sympathy card. But Hardy makes Stuart into a complex, intriguing, and tragic character. For his efforts, Hardy received a BAFTA nomination for Best Actor.

Eames – Inception

Despite working with many great directors throughout his career Christopher Nolan is the director that always gets the best out of Hardy. Unlike many of his other roles here Hardy retains his regular voice and isn’t the center of attention, playing as part of an ensemble cast but he still manages to make a great impression. As Eames, a conman recruited to impersonate people within a dream (essentially riffing on Hardy’s chameleon-like acting persona) Hardy is very fun, bouncing off the other members of the cast with his deadpan humor and effortless charm. This movie proved that Hardy wasn’t just an actor but a movie star too.

Bane – The Dark Knight Rises

Hardy’s most iconic role is perhaps the best encapsulation of him as an actor. He’s more than willing to change his body for his craft (the hulking behemoth of Bane is a world away from Eames and Stuart physically). He likes to experiment with his accents to give his characters a different feel (here Bane has a calm, vaguely Irish/Scottish voice that effectively contrasts with his savage and intimidating actions). He pays incredible attention to his physical performance (despite having his face covered for almost the entire movie we’re always aware of what Bane is thinking and feeling because of Hardy’s great use of body and facial language). And no matter what he’s doing it’s always utterly captivating. The result is a villain unlike any other.

Ivan Locke – Locke

After the action extravaganza of The Dark Knight Rises Hardy made a return to more low-key dramas. Hardy plays Ivan who is journeying from Birmingham to London to solve a crisis, all the while dealing with calls from his friends, family, and co-workers about where he’s going. Locke is perhaps Hardy’s most impressive role. The entire film takes place in a car with only Tom on screen. Meaning he’s confined in a tight space, restricting his movement and he has to carry the entire movie with his performance. Thankfully he pulls it off with gusto. Though his welsh accent wavers his calm delivery works incredibly well to endear a somewhat unsympathetic character to the audience. And his physical performance says so much with so little. Only Tom Hardy could pull off something that daring.

Ronnie/Reggie Kray – Legend

The best thing about Tom Hardy’s portrayal of the notorious twin gangsters is that you never spend any time thinking about the technical side of his performance. You’re completely invested in him. Both roles complement his skills and past triumphs. As Ronnie, Hardy is much more animalistic. An imposing, violent tough guy which clearly recalls his performances as Stuart Shorter, Bronson, and Bane. And as Reggie, we see the same effortlessly cool but dark-edged charisma he showed in Inception and The Drop. And once again Hardy adds a lot of humanity to these characters. Ronnie’s admission to being gay and Reggie’s love/hater relationship with his brother are incredibly effective. Not because of the lines he’s given but because of how he plays them. This is why whenever anyone talks about Legend they do so solely for Hardy’s performance.

Thus ends our list of Tom Hardy’s best performances. Did we miss any out? Please let us know what your favourite Tom Hardy role is and what you think of our selections.

Also Read: What Happens To Your Brain When Watching A Horror Movie?

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