The teacher who encouraged Cillian Murphy to pursue arts is proud of his former pupil – but he knows the current award season will “drive him crazy”. 

The entire nation of proud is all too happy to bask in the reflected glow of Cillian Murphy’s Oscar nomination. 

However, Booker Prize-longlisted writer and former teacher William Wall has a particular right to bask in that glory as the teacher who encouraged Murphy to pursue arts. 

Mr Wall told The Anton Savage Show he doesn’t think he can claim the nomination for himself, of course. 

“Mind you, if they turn up at my doorstep with an Oscar, I’d take it,” he said. 

“I’ve emailed him a couple of times to congratulate him, but he’s very busy. 

“In his last email, he said it was “mad out there” [in Hollywood] and that’s typical Cillian – this will drive him crazy.” 

The Cork actor is known for shying away from the Hollywood spotlight, which Mr Wall confirmed is not an act at all. 

“That’s definitely him, even when he was a kid,” he said. 

“As a teacher of English, you realise you have young people in school who are really good at a subject and are awarded in the exams. 

“But then you have people who ‘get it’ and sometimes they’re hard workers – but Cillian was not a hard worker. 

“But when you talked about poetry with him, he understood... he had a natural affinity for cultural matters.” 

Cillian Murphy 'a natural performer'

Mr Wall recalled Murphy and his teenage band The Sons of Mr Green Genes sometimes performed in school, where he saw the future Oscar-nominated actor was a true performer. 

“They were professional at 17 and 18 years of age,” he said. 

Mr Wall said while he encouraged Murphy’s artistic interests, he never pushed him particularly hard in any direction and wasn’t sure what he would become. 

“He signed up for law in UCC and I thought he was going to become one of those ‘performing barristers’ that you hear about in the Four Courts,” he said. 

“Then I heard he got into Disco Pigs, funded by Pat Kiernan who was an enormous influence, and I thought ‘Yeah, that’s it – he's found his path’.” 

The latest path the Cork actor is taking is up the red carpet, with the Oscars taking place on March 10th. 

Along with Murphy being nominated for Best Actor in Oppenheimer, Ireland can also celebrate with 11 nominations for Poor Things, produced by Irish company Element Pictures. 

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