Cillian Murphy in Peaky Blinders (Youtube)
When the TV show Peaky Blinders first appeared on our screens in 2013, lots of people started asking their barbers for a haircut called the Tommy Shelby. It’s also known as an undercut and textured crop. But even though this haircut became really popular, the main actor, Cillian Murphy, still doesn’t like it, even after ten years.
Cillian Murphy shared his experience with the Tommy Shelby haircut
Cillian Murphy, who plays Tommy Shelby in the show, says that people often asked for the same haircut he had in the movie. However he finds it a bit crazy that people like it because he personally doesn’t. He’s now 47 years old, and the haircut hasn’t grown on him.
You might wonder how he feels about the haircut when he sees it on other people. Well, he probably doesn’t like it very much. He’s mentioned in an interview with the New York Post that having this haircut can sometimes be a problem for him when he’s out in public. People tend to recognize him and start shouting at him when he has that haircut. The actor said, “It’s when you get the haircut that people start shouting at ya, when I don’t have the haircut I can get the bus quite unmolested.”
Cillian Murphy’s transformation into Tommy Shelby
But having the right haircut isn’t the only thing Cillian does to become Tommy Shelby. He also had to make other changes to get into character. He told the Radio Times that he needs to “cancel reality for a little while” while he’s filming. This means he has to switch from just hanging out in a trailer to suddenly being fully in character. It’s not easy to do if you’re not prepared.
The Oppenheimer star revealed during that time, “Part of acting in film and television is that you have to go from sitting around in a trailer twiddling your thumbs, doing the crossword or whatever, to bang! Being in it. So if you’re coming from a standstill, it doesn’t work.” He added, “I’m not walking around talking like Tommy all the time, but you have to be there or thereabouts. So she’s right, I’m not all there when I’m filming. And in terms of life when we’re filming: I don’t socialise, I just go home, learn the lines, go to bed.”
