Blindboy reveals Cillian Murphy podcast interview was cancelled due to Hollywood strike
James Cox
Podcaster and author Blindboy Boatclub has revealed a planned interview with actor Cillian Murphy was cancelled due to the Hollywood strike.
Sag-Aftra (Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) and the Writers Guild of America are currently on strike.
Murphy stars in hotly-anticipated Christopher Nolan film Oppenheimer, which is released on Friday, July 21st.
The Cork native was due to appear on the popular Blindboy Podcast to discuss the new film, but its host revealed Murphy was not able to appear due to his involvement in the strike.
Blindboy: "I was going to have Cillian Murphy on the podcast to speak about his new film Oppenheimer. We were all excited to do it, couldn't wait... it was going to be a big exclusive proper chat with Cillian Murphy, who I've had on this podcast before.
"But the Screen Actors Guild have gone on strike for the first time in 50 years I believe, that means Cillian Murphy is on strike as well. Cillian Murphy doesn't cross picket lines obviously, and I don't cross picket lines, so unfortunately he is not my guest in this week's podcast."
A regular element to Blindboy's podcast is opening with a poem from an 'actor', which he attributes to everyone from Colin Farrell to Timothee Chalamet.
He joked that this does not mean the interview with Murphy was imaginary.
"I know each week I often start off the podcast with a poem from a Hollywood actor, so it sounds a little boy who cried wolf, but no Cillian Murphy was literally going to be on the podcast this week, and we were going to chat about Oppenheimer."
Oppenheimer is a biographical thriller based on the 2005 biography American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J Sherwin about J. Robert Oppenheimer.
Oppenheimr was a theoretical physicist who was pivotal in developing the first nuclear weapons as part of the Manhattan Project and thereby ushering in the Atomic Age.
Murphy and the film's other stars recently staged a walk-out at the film's London premiere in support of the actors' and writers' strike.
Speaking on this week's podcast, Blindboy also revealed he is nearly finished his latest book.
"I'm doing the final edits to my collection of short stories, I'm at the literal end process of my book at the moment... the last final tooth comb before it goes off to be printed. I'm so excited, I can't wait to show you the book.
"It's quite different to my first two collections of short stories. I used the entirety of the pandemic to read and develop my writing style."
His third book Topographia Hibernica will be released on November 16th, 2023.
The Rubberbandits star has published two other short story collections, The Gospel According to Blindboy (2017), and Boulevard Wren and Other Stories (2019).
If the new collection of short stories is like the others, readers will be in for a treat. His writing style is engaging and his short stories are often surreal and always thought-provoking, while providing insightful views into the Irish psyche.
