Cillian Murphy Named Best Actor at Irish Academy Awards: It Feels Lovely Being Home

Posted by Jenniffer Sheldon on Thursday, September 12, 2024

Cillian Murphy capped off his domination of awards season by claiming the top acting prize for film on home soil. 

The Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe and SAG award winner on Saturday night added perhaps a final statue to his flawless haul of honors for Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” when he was named best lead actor at the 21st Irish Film and TV Academy Awards. 

“God, I’m still so brutal at this,” the famously shy actor said on collecting the award, presented to him by “Killers of the Flower Moon” star and fellow recent awards circuit regular Lily Gladstone. “But being in this room is so special — being at home, with people that I love and admire amongst my fellow nominees and some of my favorite people.” Speaking backstage afterwards at the Dublin Royal Convention Centre, he added: “It feels lovely being home with so many friends and colleagues.”

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Gladstone, who described Murphy’s wins as a “clean sweep,” was making her first trip to Ireland as a nominee for best international actress. Her trip across the Atlantic wasn’t enough to secure a victory, however, with the award going to “Poor Things” star Emma Stone. Producer Ed Guiney of Element Pictures, on collecting the statue for Stone, gave a special shoutout to Gladstone in the audience. 

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While Murphy and Gladstone were arguably the star guests at the ceremony, which mixes prizes for both TV and film, they weren’t the only big names in attendance. Among the other nominees and presenters were the likes of Sharon Horgan, Neil Jordan, Jim Sheridan, Eve Hewson, Kerry Condon and Alisha Weir, as were Kneecap, the Irish rap band whose comedy biopic was one of the buzziest titles out of Sundance. Legendary Northern Irish actor Stephen Rea was given IFTA’s lifetime achievement award. presented to him by his “The Crying Game” director Jordan. “This is a most prestigious award,” he said. “If it happened a little later it could have been a posthumous award.”

Other winners on the night included Pat Collins’ “That They May Face the Rising Sun,” based on Irish author John McGahern’s award-winning novel, which won the best film, while Lisa Mulcahy’s “Lies We Tell” claimed the most honors, including director, script and lead actress for Agnes O’Casey (who beat fellow nominees Jessie Buckley and Saoirse Ronan). Paul Mescal, who was unable to attend the ceremony, was named best supporting actor for “All of Us Strangers,” while Alison Oliver won best supporting actress for “Saltburn.” In the TV categories, hit Irish crime drama “Kin” emerged as the runaway winner, claiming four of the eight awards up for grabs, including best drama.

Speaking on the red carpet before the awards, Gladstone described her current busy period, with the recently release of “Under the Bridge” and “Jazzy” announced as premiering in Tribeca.

“What I’m really happy about is that there’s a diversity of character there, there’s a diversity of stories that are being told,” Gladstone said. “One of the ones I have coming up that I’m particularly excited about is a light-hearted, farcical rom-com.”

Meanwhile Horgan, nominated for lead actress drama for “Best Interests,” discussed the upcoming second season of Apple TV+’s hit series “Bad Sisters,” saying she “really hoped” it would be out before the end of the year. “While we were shooting the first series, I had a story idea [for the second],” she noted. “And that’s what ended up being a lot harder to do.”

“Bad Sisters” star Hewson — nominated at the IFTAs for “Flora and Son” — gave little away about the new series, other than that the sisters were “still bad.”

See the 2024 Irish Film and TV Academy award winners below:

BEST FILM
“That They May Face the Rising Sun”

DIRECTOR – FILM
“Lies We Tell” – Lisa Mulcahy

SCRIPT – FILM
“Lies We Tell” – Elisabeth Gooch

LEAD ACTOR – FILM
Cillian Murphy – “Oppenheimer”

LEAD ACTRESS – FILM
Agnes O’Casey – “Lies We Tell”

SUPPORTING ACTOR – FILM
Paul Mescal – “All of Us Strangers”

SUPPORTING ACTRESS – FILM
Alison Oliver – “Saltburn”

BEST DRAMA
“Kin”

DIRECTOR – DRAMA
“Kin” – Kate Dolan

SCRIPT – DRAMA
“Hidden Assets” – Peter McKenna

LEAD ACTOR – DRAMA
Éanna Hardwicke – “The Sixth Commandment”

LEAD ACTRESS – DRAMA
Clare Dunne – “Kin”

SUPPORTING ACTOR – DRAMA
Richard Dormer – “Blue Lights”

SUPPORTING ACTRESS – DRAMA
Maria Doyle Kennedy – “Kin”

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
“Oppenheimer”

BEST INTERNATIONAL ACTOR
Paul Giamatti – “The Holdovers”

BEST INTERNATIONAL ACTRESS
Emma Stone – “Poor Things”

GEORGE MORRISON FEATURE DOCUMENTARY
“The Days of Trees”

LIVE-ACTION SHORT FILM
“Calf”

ANIMATED SHORT FILM
“Wind & the Shadow”

CINEMATOGRAPHY
“Poor Things” – Robbie Ryan

COSTUME DESIGN
“LOLA” – ​​Lara Campbell

PRODUCTION DESIGN
“A Haunting in Venice” – John Paul Kelly

HAIR & MAKE-UP
“The Pope’s Exorcist” – Orla Carroll, Lynn Johnston

SOUND
“Barbie” – Nina Rice

ORIGINAL MUSIC
“LOLA” – Neil Hannon

EDITING
“Still: A Michael J Fox Movie” – Michael Harte

VFX
“Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” – Kev Cahill, Ben Snow

SCREEN IRELAND RISING STAR AWARD
Siobhán Cullen

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