If there was an award for best supporting facial expression, Cillian Murphy’s “I’d really rather be home right now” thousand-yard stare would win this year.
Murphy ― the frontrunner for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his work in “Oppenheimer” ― has Big Introvert Energy, something that fellow introverts, meme accounts and brands with smart social media teams have picked up on this Oscar season.
“Me arriving at the plans I made when I was feeling extroverted,” reads one tweet alongside a clip of the Irish actor meandering around the red carpet at the Golden Globes in January.
“Cillian Murphy fighting for that 8% battery that he has left as an introvert at 7 o’clock,” another person tweeted about the same clip.
Another favorite clip shows Murphy sighing wistfully, hands folded in his lap. One version from the Instagram account of The Wildest, a lifestyle pet site, is captioned: “When I attend a party and the host doesn’t have a pet for me to hyperfixate on.”
For what it’s worth, Murphy, 47, has never outright come out and said he’s an introvert; he’s too cool and self-effacing for that. But in interviews throughout the years, he and and co-stars have alluded to his reserved temperament on set.
“Cillian Murphy Didn’t Join ‘Oppenheimer’ Cast Dinners Because ‘His Brain Was Just Too Full,’ Says Matt Damon,” one headline reads ― which is absolutely an excuse we’re going to borrow the next time we bail on a friend’s party.
In a 2016 appearance on Ireland’s “The Late Late Show,” he shared his trick for dodging unwanted conversations: “The more boring you are in real life, the less people are interested in you, so I tell people I have an extraordinarily boring life, but it’s actually incredibly exciting,” he tells the host, with a sly smile.
In Murphy’s sit-down with “Barbie” star Margot Robbie for Variety, the “Oppenheimer” star shows off another patented introvert move: keeping the questions coming so the other person does the lion’s share of talking.
(Of course, he’s listening intently, too. Being an introvert doesn’t mean being a jerk.)
Lest you think the Very Online are just projecting here, therapists and introvert experts say they’ve picked up on Murphy’s introversion, too.
(As a refresher ― it’s been over a decade since Susan Cain’s bestseller “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking” was published ― introverts are people who recharge themselves by being alone, while extroverts gin up energy from being around other people and socializing.)
“Cillian talking about fronting that he has a boring life while knowing for himself that his life is quite the opposite, that is the introvert paradox in a nutshell,” said Laurie Helgoe, an associate professor of psychology at Augsburg University in Minneapolis and the author of “Introvert Power: Why Your Inner Life Is Your Hidden Strength.”
As an introvert, you have to have this in-and-out kind of life, Helgoe explained, “incubating and exhibiting and then pulling back to rest and gather our ‘supplies’ again.”
“It seem he likes to reserve his excitement for the spaces and the close companions behind the scenes,” she said. “I’ve obviously never met Cillian, but I have connected with many introverted actors and comedians and educators ― people with ’out there’ roles who’ve experienced something similar.”
When you’re preparing for any creative endeavor, time alone is essential: With deadlines looming, you have to pull in images and observations from the world, research your role or project, and shift through your own memory bank for inspiration.
“All that material becomes a world that is stimulating and exciting and massively creative,” Helgoe said. “At times, that boundary needs to close so a dinner invitation with castmates might need to be declined.”
When you’re in a group environment, sequestering yourself away can come across as unfriendly. Unfortunately, most work environments ― including unconventional ones like film sets and press junkets ― still aren’t made for introverts; a 2003 YouGov poll showed that a majority of Americans believe that extroverts have more advantages than introverts in the realm of public speaking (70%, vs. 8% who say introverts have more advantages), meeting a new group of people (69% vs. 8%), and meeting someone new one-on-one (50% vs. 14%).
Those kind of interactions are energy-sucking for introverts; by skipping a cast dinner or only going to the work functions that are required of him, Murphy models how to maximize his social energy as an introvert and still get ahead. The fact that he’s so well-liked by cast and crew proves how effectively he’s pulled that balance off.
Friederike Fabritius, a neuroscientist who considers herself an outgoing introvert, relates to Murphy dodging work dinner invites in favor of sleep and few extra quiet hours.
“I work as a keynote speaker and I never go to the dinner parties for that very reason,” said Fabritius, the author of the book “The Brain-Friendly Workplace: Why Talented People Quit and How to Get Them to Stay.”
“I give all my energy on stage,” she told HuffPost. “I put it into delivering a stellar keynote I don’t want to waste it at the dinner party.”
A few missed happy hours or post-work convention dinners doesn’t mean that someone is slacking or unserious about their career; if they’re introverted, they just have a different processing style.
“In fact, introverts often have very high work ethics and are focused on doing the right thing,” Fabritius said. “We don’t cave to social pressure. Cillian would rather repeat his lines and stay in character rather than spending time on a dinner party.”
Frazer Harrison via Getty Images
Watching clips of the actor, Imi Lo, a mental health consultant and author of “Emotional Sensitivity and Intensity: How to Manage Intense Emotions as a Highly Sensitive Person,” thinks the “Peaky Blinders” actor is a great example of how introversion doesn’t have to mean being shy or socially awkward.
Murphy seems entirely comfortable in his skin; most introverts can hang, too, as long as they’re working with a mostly full social battery.
“He is a reminder that one can be reserved without being rude; you just have to know your limits and boundaries as an introvert,” Lo said. “Introverts really can thrive in public roles through preparation, limiting draining situations and relying on strengths like focus and observation over extroversion.”
“He’s got this quiet professionalism going for him,” she said.
That, and a highly meme-able face.
