Cillian Murphy reveals he read Bhagavad Gita to prepare for Nolan's Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer actor Cillian Murphy found the Hindu religious book Bhagavad Gita very useful while preparing for Christopher Nolan’s film. As he prepped to get ready to play theoretical physicist J Robert Oppenheimer, who is regarded as one of the fathers of the atom bomb, Cillian took inspiration from Gita.

The physicist depicted in the film had revealed in an interview that he thought of a quote from the Gita in the immediate aftermath of the testing of the world’s first atomic bomb in 1945. Interestingly, Oppenheimer was also a student of the Sanskrit language. When the test concluded successfully, he said that he thought to himself a quote from Gita that goes like this: “Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.”

Cillian Murphy read Bhagavad Gita

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As Cillian plays Oppenheimer in the eponymous film, he too read the Holy book. While promoting the film, Cillian was asked about the physicist being influenced by the sacred text, to which he said, “I did read the Bhagavad Gita in preparation, and I thought it was an absolutely beautiful text, very inspiring. I think it was a consolation to him, he kind of needed it and it provided him a lot of consolation, all his life.”

When asked about his learnings from Bhagavad Gita, Cillian joked, “Well don’t grill me on it!” and added, “I just found it very beautiful.”

Oppenheimer cast and release date

Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer also stars Robert Downey Jr, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, and Florence Pugh. The film is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and the late Martin J Sherwin.

Oppenheimer is set to release on July 21.

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