Although many consider him one of the finest actors of his generation, it’s hard to imagine anything rattling Cillian Murphy in real life.
Seemingly shy yet effortlessly “cool,” he often comes across as indifferent off set. That’s why many find it hard to believe he would ever dress up for Halloween and go trick-or-treating.
Instead, Cillian Murphy spent his teenage years immersed in horror movies—and that very ritual accidentally led him to the film that changed his life.
One time, while browsing a video store for a good horror film, the owner handed him Scarecrow, thinking it was from that genre.
“We took it home, and it turned out to be a 1972 drama—not a horror movie—directed by Jerry Schatzberg, starring Al Pacino and Gene Hackman,” Murphy recalled, according to Far Out Magazine.
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Even though it wasn’t a horror movie, he watched it all the way through with his brother—and ended up receiving a true acting lesson thanks to Pacino and Hackman.
“Those who know the film know it’s kind of a road movie, about two guys traveling across America, and it’s really a love story—a platonic love story between two outsiders, two loners,” Murphy explained.
He added: “Anyway, the film made a huge impression on me at that age, and I was deeply moved by their performances. I think it sparked something in my head. Even though I didn’t seriously pursue acting until my mid-twenties, it’s a film I keep going back to, a film I recommend to fellow actors and directors who might not have seen it yet, and I think it might be one of my absolute favorites.”
Today, that film is often cited as one of Al Pacino’s most underrated works. While Pacino later built his career on big, commanding roles, Scarecrow remains an example of a subtler approach—relying on raw, simple acting.
That experience has stayed important to Murphy, even now at the peak of his career, with an Oscar in hand and the weight of Hollywood’s expectations. It reminds him that the essence of acting always lies in humanity and honesty.
