The latest WWII indie thriller Anthropoid tells the story of two of these men, who although only known within a niche group, forever transformed the trajectory of one of the most influential wars of human history. In the film, a pair of World War II Czech rebels, Jan Kubiš and Josef Gabčík, face grave danger in order to assassinate one of the highest ranking Nazi officials, SS officer Reinhard Heydrich. Although they were just two individuals, their actions changed the course of the war.
And who better to play these brave men than arguably two of the biggest names in Hollywood today, Jamie Dornan and Cillian Murphy?
In order to gain more insight into how these two A-list actors transformed into two little recognized war heroes, we talked to both Dornan and Murphy about creating Anthropoid together—and the likelihood of a comedy starring the two of them in the future. Check out our interview with the duo below.
WhoSay: Were you at all familiar with this story beforehand?
Jamie Dornan: I wasn’t familiar with this part of the WWII, and was amazed by how it changed the course of WWII. Obviously it's huge for Czech people, this incident in history, this assassination. It was the highest ranking Nazi ever taken out. It was a revelation to read about it.
WhoSay: How did you guys prepare for your roles?
Cillian Murphy: They were real people, so you have a sense of duty, a sense of responsibility. Their descendants are still around in Prague. We did as much research as was available. [Director/screenwriter] Sean Ellis envisioned this story for like 15 years, so we had a huge amount of research amassed.
WhoSay: What are some of your personal favorite war movies?
Murphy: I like Full Metal Jacket, I like The Thin Red Line.
Dornan: Ah, he stole mine. I was going to say The Thin Red Line, and I was going to say Full Metal Jacket. There’s a film called Coming Home which I think is a brilliant take on the effects of war. Tropic Thunder, obviously. That’s a classic tale of war. There’s plenty of them, and I think they’ll keep making war films for as long as they’re making films, to be honest. They’re always relevant.
WhoSay: Jamie, I find it funny you're known for playing the ultimate romance lead Christian Grey, but your character in this intense war film is much more quixotic, romantic, and less cynical. Do you relate to one more than the other?
Dornan: I'd say I definitely relate to [my character] Jan Kubiš more than I would Christian Grey. One of the many things that I find very alluring about this project, and playing this character, was that I haven’t played many characters who are vulnerable. I’ve often played people who are very much in control and know what they want, and are often quite aggressive with it. I liked that Jan had this vulnerability, had panic attacks, and felt that he was in over his head for a lot of the mission. I feel that I would probably react like that myself. I don’t think I would be like Cillian’s character Josef, who is stronger. He’s the one who’s got his head in the game more, and the one who’s basically the alpha. I’m not one of those people, so I think I can relate to Jan a lot on that level.
WhoSay: Keeping in mind your wildly successful series Peaky Blinders, Cillian, what draws you to so many period pieces?
Murphy: It’s a total coincidence, totally random. I just want to work on good stories with good scripts, and these were the ones that happened to come by over the last couple years.
WhoSay: What projects would you want to work on next? Would you want to go into, let's say, comedy?
Murphy: Comedy, definitely, because I think Jamie’s career is a comedy in itself. No, I have no idea. No one sends me comedy scripts. It’s just about good directors, good stories, whatever comes your way.
Dornan: I’m sort of open to anything. If you read something and there's a character you want to play, a world you want to be in, and it happens to be funny, then that's cool. I don’t think you want to become one of those actors that only does certain types of films. I think it’s really good to be diverse as an actor, and keep the options open. I like the idea of comedy, but Cillian can’t do it, because he’s not funny in the slightest.
WhoSay: I don't know. I think you should do a buddy comedy together.
Dornan: We should. We should pitch that to the studios this week.
WhoSay: It would be a blockbuster.
Dornan: I agree with you.
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