Cillian Murphy ate ‘one almond a day’ during gruelling diet before filming Oppenheimer

Cillian Murphy’s brutal diet while getting ready for Oppenheimer included eating just one almost a day.

The 47-year-old Irish actor is set to play the flick’s titular character, J. Robert Oppenheimer, the theoretical physicist who helped America develop the atom bomb in 1945.

The real life “destroyer of worlds” was a meagre 115lbs (52kg) and reportedly smoked 100 cigarettes a day.

READ MORE: Oppenheimer’s age rating confirmed with nudity, romping and ‘bums and breasts’ on show

And for an already trim Cillian, it took drastic measures to cut the extra weight.

“I love acting with my body, and Oppenheimer had a very distinct physicality and silhouette, which I wanted to get right”, the actor told the New York Times.

Matt Damon and Emily Blunt, who star in Christopher Nolan’s highly anticipated biopic, commented on the joys of having dinner as a group every night in New Mexico’s desert.

There was one restaurant open 24 hours for breakfast, lunch and dinner, Matt told Entertainment Tonight.

He explained: “It was like the dining hall, you would go in, and you’d see everybody, so everyone would just end up sitting together.”

However, while others broke bread, poor Cillian would miss out on cast dinners because of his gruelling diet for the movie.

Instead, the Peaky Blinders alum would eat “one almond most nights or a little slice of Apple” alone, Matt revealed.

He added: “We invited Cillian to dinner every night, and he never went. He was losing so much weight for the part that he just didn’t eat dinner, ever.”

Oppenheimer’s cast described being on set like a summer camp — except with plenty of margaritas.

But Cillian’s responsibility for the lead role prevented him from joining in on the cast’s fun activities, the pair revealed to People magazine.

“The sheer volume of what he had to take on and shoulder is so monumental,” Emily said. “Of course, he didn’t want to come and have dinner with us.”

“He couldn’t”, Matt chimed in. “His brain was just too full.”

After a string of supporting role in Nolan’s movies – from Dunkirk to Inception – Cillian has finally stepped up to play the lead.

The 28 Days Later actor told the Hollywood reporter: “[Nolan] was like, ‘Cillian, look, I have a script, it’s Oppenheimer and I’d like you to play Oppenheimer.’ That was it.”

Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk