{"id":333478,"date":"2026-03-07T08:25:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T08:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/333478\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T08:25:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T08:25:09","slug":"it-was-one-of-the-greatest-weeks-of-my-life-i-havent-talked-about-it-much-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/333478\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It was one of the greatest weeks of my life. I haven\u2019t talked about it much\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am in a hotel room in London<\/a>, watching Cillian Murphy<\/a> and Antony Genn nerding out over music. Genn will recall some shared musical moment and Murphy\u2019s eyes will widen and he\u2019ll go, \u201cOh yeah!\u201d At one point Murphy turns to face him and curls his legs up under him in the chair.<\/p>\n

They could be the members of an ageing indie band. Both are dressed all in black. Genn, scruffier, straggly haired and tattooed, could be the louche guitar player. Murphy, neater, with those cheekbones and that intense stare, could be the charismatic singer. <\/p>\n

Genn was once in indie bands: The Hours, Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros, Pulp<\/a> (when he was just 16). Murphy is in what sound like indie bands \u2013 Oppenheimer, Disco Pigs, Steve \u2013 but are actually films.<\/p>\n

The duo are, in fact, discussing Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man<\/a> (which also sounds like a band and their album), in which Murphy stars, once again, as the early-20th-century Birmingham gang lord Tommy Shelby and for which Genn and his writing partner, Martin Slattery, wrote and arranged eerie drones, mournful piano and growling garage-band riffs and marshalled a panoply of musical guests.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s significant input from the Irish band Fontaines DC<\/a> but also from Amy Taylor of Amyl and the Sniffers, Nick Cave<\/a> (of course) and a beautiful new version of Lankum<\/a>\u2019s Hunting the Wren, featuring the Fontaines\u2019 Grian Chatten<\/a>. <\/p>\n

They were all at the film\u2019s premiere the night before in Birmingham. Genn went to the pub afterwards with Lankum.<\/p>\n

The film sees an older, haunted Shelby trying to save the soul of his violent son, Duke \u2013 played by Barry Keoghan<\/a> \u2013 in a conflict with Nazis and home-grown British fascists. <\/p>\n

Steven Knight<\/a>, who created the Peaky Blinders TV series and has written the film, \u201chad always had in his head, even when we were shooting series one \u2013 when we didn\u2019t even know it was going to get recommissioned \u2013 that he wanted to end it in the second World War,\u201d Murphy says. \u201cAnd he always wanted that Tommy\u2019s real values as a human being would be revealed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murphy has been a producer of Peaky Blinders since the fourth series, which means he\u2019s intimately involved with the soundtrack. He once told me that musicians had more influence on his career choices than other actors. Why? <\/p>\n

\"BarryBarry Keoghan and Cillian Murphy in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man. Photograph: Netflix\/Robert Viglasky <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s because that\u2019s what I wanted to do forever. And then it segued into theatre. And then I went into film. But [music is] what I\u2019ve always wanted to do. And the people that have had a huge impact on me in terms of how to be in the world as an artist are definitely musicians,\u201d he says. \u201cHow to exist, how to tell the truth, how to be yourself, how to make original work: all of that has always come through musicians.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man review \u2013 Cillian Murphy is magnetic, but this spin-off saga\u2019s razor has dulledOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cGreat musicians are creating something completely original. My job is interpretative … I\u2019m not complaining, because I follow great writing and I\u2019ve been lucky to work with amazing writers. You take this already-created piece of work and then you give to it, and you add to it … It\u2019s extremely collaborative, but ultimately you are kind of [a] brick in the wall; you\u2019re an instrument for [directors] to create their vision.<\/p>\n

\u201cGreat musicians have created this piece of music and then put words to it and put it into the world. And it changes people. That\u2019s something I really admire.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given that he works with writers like Max Porter<\/a>, whose writing is often like verse, and now with singers like Chatten and Cave, whose delivery can be very close to spoken word, does Murphy really think he\u2019s so different? He laughs. <\/p>\n

\u201cBeckett said once, when someone asked him about a play, it\u2019s not about meaning, it\u2019s about rhythm, which I think is f**king amazing, because you can say something over and over again and it completely loses meaning. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you hit a rhythm, particularly with another actor or with singers, it just unlocks things. When I was doing Grief Is the Thing with Feathers<\/a> with Max, sometimes it was magic, because something completely different would happen with the words.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CillianCillian Murphy, star of Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man. Photograph: Boo George\/Netflix <\/p>\n

Genn and Murphy have been friends for about 20 years. \u201cWe met in a pub in Camden with Alan Moloney\u201d \u2013 Murphy\u2019s production partner \u2013 \u201caround the time that you\u2019d done Breakfast on Pluto,\u201d Genn says. \u201cIt\u2019s funny, because I remember dropping you off at your flat, and I now drop your kids off \u2013 and they weren\u2019t even born then. Yvonne\u201d \u2013 McGuinness, Murphy\u2019s wife \u2013 \u201cwas pretty pregnant at that point.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Yvonne McGuinness: \u2018I\u2019m much more at ease in the muck of a field with a class of nine-year-olds than I am with a red carpet\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Why did they bond? \u201cWe were just both music nuts,\u201d Genn says. \u201cI think we bonded over that. There aren\u2019t many people that feel music very deeply. I am one of them and he is one of them, being inspired by music in all forms of art.\u201d<\/p>\n

Genn had worked on the music back on series four of Peaky Blinders. Why did he and Slattery return for the film? Genn explains that they\u2019d been doing some work, for fun, with Tom Coll and Carlos O\u2019Connell of Fontaines DC. <\/p>\n

\u201cI heard they were doing a film, and I just thought, surely we should be getting involved and the Fontaines should be involved. I just called you up and you were, like, \u2018But of course\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why did Murphy instantly say, \u201cBut of course\u201d? \u201cSome stuff is Peaky and some stuff isn\u2019t, musically,\u201d the actor replies. \u201cYou audition stuff to picture, and sometimes it clicks and sometimes it doesn\u2019t. People have always asked us, \u2018Why? What is it?\u2019 It\u2019s easier to list the artists that do work, like Nick, like PJ Harvey<\/a>, like Radiohead<\/a>; Leonard Cohen<\/a> worked. Others are brilliant artists, but it doesn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like the Fontaines would be f**king amazing, but the idea of it being original music that these lads would do together, as opposed to stuff from their records, that was incredibly exciting to me. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey were just putting out Romance<\/a>, and we went to see the launch of the album down in Camden \u2013 me and Tom Harper, the director, and my son Aran \u2013 and it was f**king unbelievable. It was like every track was written for the film.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peaky Blinders seems to foreground hugely distinctive voices \u2013 Chatten, Radie Peat<\/a> of Lankum, Cave \u2013 whereas other properties prefer something less characterful and more ethereal that sit in the background. <\/p>\n

\u201cI never really thought about that,\u201d Murphy says. Peaky Blinders is \u201cso anachronistic, so stylised, so writ large, maybe it can take it\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was interesting watching it last night,\u201d Genn says. \u201cWhen those big voices come in, it\u2019s pretty powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh man,\u201d Murphy says, his face lighting up. \u201cI was sitting there with [Chatten\u2019s] cover of Angel [by Massive Attack], and the vocal was moving across from speaker to speaker.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RebeccaRebecca Ferguson (Kaulo\/Zelda), director Tom Harper and Cillian Murphy (Tommy Shelby) on the set. Photograph: Robert Viglasky\/Netflix <\/p>\n

The soundtrack also reinforces the underlying Irishness of Peaky Blinders. That has always been there, according to Murphy. \u201cLisa O\u2019Neill<\/a> did that Dylan song\u201d \u2013 All the Tired Horses, at the end of series six \u2013 and it was \u201cone of the greatest moments we had. Colm McCarthy directed series two. Anthony Byrne directed series five and series six. We\u2019ve had some incredible Irish actors in there. And Steve Knight did write a lot of [Irish] politics into it\u201d. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Cillian Murphy and Yvonne McGuinness buy historic Dingle cinemaOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cI was adamant that we cast great Irish actors, because there is such a great pool and it would be insane to not … I\u2019m quite proud of the Irishness of it,\u201d Murphy says.<\/p>\n

Genn adds: \u201cThe other Massive Attack cover, Teardrop, which is sung by a Cornish girl, three of the people in that band\u201d \u2013 Girl in the Year Above \u2013 \u201care Irish as well. They grew up in Skerries.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cReally?\u201d Murphy says.<\/p>\n

Lankum and Fontaines DC, along with other Irish musicians, like CMAT<\/a> and Kneecap<\/a>, are all politically outspoken in a way that isn\u2019t so evident with musicians from other countries. Why do they think that is?<\/p>\n

\u201cGod, that\u2019s a big question,\u201d Murphy says. \u201cFor me, it\u2019s completely authentic and absolutely fully realised and [about a] deeply held belief. There\u2019s a long tradition of that in Ireland, obviously, and it feels completely natural for [political] positions to be held by those artists in such an honest way.\u201d<\/p>\n

When does Murphy get involved in the music? \u201cWe talk to each other all the time about it,\u201d Genn says. \u201cBy the time they were cutting, I think we had written fiftysomething pieces already. And, fortunately, I think that all the people we got involved with us trust us. So we can throw some s**t at the wall and they will know we will craft that and will take good care of those ideas and build on them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re all different, but there is a gravitas to them when they open their mouths. And that\u2019s from Grian to Radie to Amy [Taylor, from Amyl and the Sniffers] to Jenny [Ball, from Girl in the Year Above] when she sings Teardrop.\u201d <\/p>\n

I thought, I can\u2019t believe I\u2019m actually doing this. I can\u2019t believe David Bowie has watched Peaky Blinders.<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Cillian Murphy<\/p>\n

He shakes his head. \u201cWhen that came on last night…\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh man,\u201d Murphy says with wonder.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d written a piece of music for that scene,\u201d Genn says. \u201cIt kind of worked, but it was pretty sad. And you were, like, \u2018It\u2019s too sad\u2019. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not saying we\u2019re telepathically connected, but I had this idea to do Teardrop, and you sent me a voice note that said, \u2018What I think it should be is just a really beautiful, pure song.\u2019 And then I sent it to you. You called me, and you were, like, \u2018Who is that singing?\u2019 And I was, like, \u2018Honestly, it\u2019s this hairdresser I met\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murphy laughs. \u201cThis is true.\u201d <\/p>\n

Ball \u201cstarted showing stuff on her Instagram of her singing\u201d, Genn says. \u201cAnd I brought her in and she was so powerful. But it\u2019s so funny that he\u2019d said that to me that night. It was almost like he\u2019d literally said, \u2018You should do a really pure cover of Teardrop\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you just f**king say that for the story?\u201d Murphy responds, and they both laugh.<\/p>\n

\"CillianCillian Murphy as Tommy Shelby on the set of Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man. Photograph: Robert Viglasky\/Netflix <\/p>\n

In the film Nick Cave sings on a much mellower, sadder version of the Peaky Blinders theme song, Red Right Hand. \u201cWhatever it was about that first version, when it appeared at the beginning of series one, Tommy is a young man,\u201d Murphy says. \u201cBut it doesn\u2019t work at this later stage in his life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Genn adds, \u201cI said to Cillian, \u2018You should call Nick and ask him to do a new version.\u2019 Cillian called me when they sent the track. I\u2019m in a field at Glastonbury,\u201d \u2013 he mimes taking a call with a finger in the other ear \u2013 \u201cand he goes, \u2018Have you heard the track?\u2019.\u201d He laughs. \u201cThen I was listening on the phone in the field.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Peaky Blinders final episode: Just when Cillian Murphy seemed free of this absurd show…Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Grian Chatten is all over the soundtrack. \u201cHe was the glue,\u201d Genn says. \u201cTom [Harper] kept calling him our spiritual narrator.\u201d<\/p>\n

He recalls a day when Chatten arrived as they were struggling with a sequence. He started typing into his phone and was, moments later, singing. \u201cThe whole process of seeing him writing it and singing \u2018Life is but a dream\u2019 took about eight minutes. It would have been five if the computer had booted up faster.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like a Bond theme,\u201d Murphy says.<\/p>\n

\"CillianCillian Murphy, star of Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man. Photograph: Boo George\/Netflix <\/p>\n

Is the actor ever tempted to sing on tracks himself? \u201cNo,\u201d he says, very quickly, and kind of joyfully. He almost shouts it. Why would you, he asks, \u201cwhen you have Grian Chatten and Nick Cave?\u201d.<\/p>\n

It helps, Murphy adds, that musicians love the show. \u201cIn series two Flood did the music. He produced PJ Harvey, and he took all of her songs and kind of excavated them and rebuilt them and went back to all of the early demos,\u201d Murphy says.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn series three David Bowie<\/a> gave us Blackstar<\/a>. I was lucky enough to work with him briefly. I did a workshop with him and Enda Walsh in New York for a play [Lazarus]. I didn\u2019t end up in the play, but I worked with him for a week,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0David Bowie: 10 years after his death, he\u2019s still electrifying, still plugged into the 21st centuryOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

What was that like? Murphy sighs. \u201cIt was one of the greatest weeks of my life,\u201d he says. \u201cI haven\u2019t really talked about it a bunch, because it\u2019s kind of a private experience. But I gave him the hat from series one, because he loved [Peaky Blinders], and he sent me back a picture of him in the hat.\u201d <\/p>\n

He shakes his head. <\/p>\n

\u201cI thought, I can\u2019t believe I\u2019m actually doing this. I can\u2019t believe David Bowie has watched Peaky Blinders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man is in cinemas now and on Netflix from Friday, March 20th. The soundtrack is released by RCA Records<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I am in a hotel room in London, watching Cillian Murphy and Antony Genn nerding out over music.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":333479,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[49654,2920,893,687,93,3408,631,153496,61,60,10366,153497,153499,153500,76024,92584,134772,153498,652,30937],"class_list":{"0":"post-333478","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-barry-keoghan","9":"tag-cillian-murphy","10":"tag-cmat","11":"tag-david-bowie","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-fontaines-dc","14":"tag-for-you","15":"tag-grian-chatten","16":"tag-ie","17":"tag-ireland","18":"tag-kneecap","19":"tag-lankum","20":"tag-leonard-cohen","21":"tag-lisa-o-neill","22":"tag-max-porter","23":"tag-nick-cave","24":"tag-pj-harvey","25":"tag-radie-peat","26":"tag-radiohead","27":"tag-steven-knight"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/333479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}