Cillian Murphy may be one of Christopher Nolan's most frequent collaborators, but the actor says he wasn't disappointed about not featuring in the filmmaker's upcoming epic, The Odyssey. Instead, he found relief in being able to enjoy the film as a viewer.
During an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Murphy laughed off any suggestion that he had missed out on the project, saying he experienced "ROMO"—"Relief of Missing Out"—rather than FOMO.
Explaining the remark, Murphy said, "It's the opposite of FOMO," before adding that watching Nolan's films without appearing in them is "a real gift." He joked that it also spares him "the terrible burden of looking at my own stupid head."
Having worked with Nolan for over two decades, Murphy said there was something refreshing about being able to sit back and watch one of the director's films without analysing his own performance. Murphy's association with Nolan began with Batman Begins (2005), in which he portrayed the iconic Batman villain Scarecrow. He later reunited with the filmmaker for The Dark Knight, Dunkirk and, most memorably, Oppenheimer.
His performance as physicist J Robert Oppenheimer in the 2023 biographical drama earned Murphy the Academy Award for Best Actor, making it the high point of his long-running creative partnership with Nolan.
Nolan's latest directorial venture, The Odyssey, features an ensemble cast including Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong'o, Robert Pattinson and Charlize Theron. As the name suggests, the film is an adaptation of Homer's ancient Greek epic poem, the Odyssey. Nolan and his wife Emma Thomas produced the film through their production company, Syncopy.
