Cork-born actor Cillian Murphy has revealed that he is embracing his upcoming birthday milestone, saying he feels like he's "entering a different phase" of his life.
The star will turn 40 next and he hopes he will approach his life with a bit more "decorum".
"I feel like I’m entering a different phase of my life," he told The Guardian. "I don’t mind embracing it. I had a really good time in my 20s and 30s. Now I’m ready for a bit more… decorum, I guess? A bit more moderation? Still enjoying being a young man, but looking over the wall into the other side, you know?"
Murphy - who has been married for the past 12 years to the artist Yvonne McGuinness - recalls the thinking behind the family's move back to Ireland last year. "I loved living in London in my 20s and 30s, but after a while you kind of go, ‘Right, is this it? Is this it for the rest of my days? Or is there some other possibility?’"
The actor added that he and his wife wanted their sons Malacy and Aran to grow up nearer their grandparents and to live by the sea, adding: "We wanted them to be Irish, I suppose. It’s amazing how quickly their accents have adapted. Even within a year of moving back, they are fading into this rakish west Brit kind of thing. Which I think, hopefully, will get them lots of girls when they’re 15."
In Peaky Blinders, Murphy plays Tommy Shelby, a psychopathic crime lord in 1920s Birmingham. The Corkonian describes Shelby as “godless, unafraid to die. Deep down, maybe wishing to die. Which makes him terrifying..."
The actor admits that the role is exhausting to play. "I think it’s because he’s so relentless. And he never seems to sleep. There’s never a point where he says, ‘F*** it’ and gives up. Tommy is a gift of a character, but he does wear me down. I come away drained."
Shooting the series involved eleven-day fortnights,16-hour days and tons of lines to learn. While the series is set in Birmingham, it was in shot in Liverpool, where Murphy stayed in a rented flat. The family stayed in Dublin. Personal life during the filming period, he reveals is "zero, cancelled life".
"You go home to your tiny apartment at the end of the day and you feed yourself for sustenance and you learn the lines for the next day and you try to get as much sleep as you possibly can. Which isn’t much. And then you get up and do it again."
The third series of Peaky Blinders starts on BBC 2 on Thursday May 5.
