Previously unseen footage has emerged of Cillian Murphy rehearsing in the Granary Theatre at University College Cork for his first professional role in Enda Walsh's Disco Pigs.
The 1996 clip, filmed by Eddie Noonan of Frameworks Films, shows future Oscar-nominee Murphy and his co-star Eileen Walsh playing their roles as a "Pig" and "Runt" in the acclaimed play.
Later that year, Murphy went on make his professional stage debut as a Cork teenager in local drama group Corcadorca’s production of Disco Pigs.
At the time, he was a law student at University College Cork, a member of UCC Drama and playing guitar in his band The Sons of Mr Green Genes alongside his younger brother.
Originally set for a short run, Disco Pigs, which was turned into a film, also starring Murphy, in 2001, toured the world to rave reviews and prompted Murphy to drop out of college and pursue acting as a career.
Speaking to RTÉ Entertainment in 2001, Murphy said, "When I packed in college, it was a great relief.
"I always felt if I give acting a go, I haven't lost anything because I didn't start off at six or seven years of age going, 'I really want to be an actor, I really want to achieve this'.
"I was lucky because I said, 'if I don't achieve anything, nothing ventured nothing gained'. So, I gave it a go. I was very, very lucky."
Murphy will be reunited with his Disco Pigs co-star Eileen Walsh later this year in Tim Mielants' film Small Things Like These.
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