Emily Blunt apologizes to Cillian Murphy for not seeing brutal Oppenheimer scene, says she ‘almost killed him’

Her incredible performance in Oppenheimer may have earned Emily Blunt an Oscar nomination – but it’s a brutal scene viewers will never see that led her to apologize to co-star Cillian Murphy today.

Emily says the pair were filming one of the movie’s most tense moments when director Christopher Nolan asked her to repeatedly slap Cillian in the face.

The 40-year-old says: “Sorry about your cheekbones.

“Poor Cillian. Chris went, ‘Hit it’. And I was like, ‘I don’t know’.

“And Cillian was like, ‘Do it, do it’. Chris was like, ‘It’s going to be okay . . . should’.

“I slapped him and then I grabbed him by the neck, by the collar.

“I’ve just seen, like, the very famous cheekbones that Tan takes on become more famous — and they’re not even in the movie.”

Emily, who plays Kitty, the wife of Cillian physicist J Robert Oppenheimer, says the pair were already tense.

This scene was part of the largest film about the American who played a key role in the development of the first nuclear weapons, where she utters the sharp line: “You will not think of sinning and then ask everyone. We will feel sorry for you when the results come.”

Emily explains: “We were losing the light.

“I knew that day that we didn’t have a long time about the tension building on set, just a little bit aware of it.

“And it’s such a challenging scene for Cillian because he has to gibber incoherently.

“So you wobble through it in rehearsals and you know the more you do it the more it’s going to start moving.”

Emily also admits that her off-camera actions caused the 47-year-old Cillian to require medical treatment while filming in New Mexico as well.

Traditionally, film stars give gifts to each other at the beginning and end of shooting.

And as she worried about her co-star’s sleep with such a demanding role, she bought him an “amazing” pillow.

But she says: “It would kill me to tell this story.

“When we started shooting I was very worried about Cillian’s sleep because I felt he had a monumental undertaking with this role.

“I thought, like, it’s a good gift to start the shoot.

“He told me he woke up in the middle of the night and was so excited to go back to sleep on the pillow that he threw his head back on it and laid his head on the bedside table.

“He was enjoying it so much that he opened his head.

“So he came to set and they had to cover his head, all because of the pillow.”

At the end of filming Cillian gave her a bottle, she “almost killed him” in another violent scene.

Emily and Cillian have remained firm friends, and on March 10 the two will be gearing up for the Oscars at the ceremony in Los Angeles.

The blockbuster has nominations in 13 categories, including Best Actor and Emily up for Best Supporting Actress, her first nomination.

She says: “He was a lovely scene partner.

“I love Cillian, Mr. Ocean Eyes. He’s a wonderful friend.

“He’s captivating. He’s mesmerizing in this role.

“Everything was a masterclass watching him.”

London-born Emily – who has also starred in TV’s The English and the movie A Quiet Place and its follow-ups The Girl on the Train and Sicario – is married to American actor and director John Krasinski, 44.

She is also mum to nine-year-old Hazel and seven-year-old Violet.

She managed to get through the four-month filming schedule with the help of meditation.

Emily explains “I do transcendental meditation. I love it.

“I started doing it about nine years ago, when my first little one was born, and I was tired all the time.

“It’s very effective at silencing noise for me.

“My team on set called them my psycho naps because I could literally fall asleep sitting up.

“I’ll go and say, ‘I’m meditating,’ but I always fall asleep.”

And despite appearing in several other hits, including The Devil Wears Prada with Meryl Streep, Mary Poppins Returns with Dick Van Dyke and The Wolfman with Anthony Hopkins, the A-lister is still in awe of her co-stars.

She says: “I was so amazed by Meryl. Maybe the more I got to know him, the easier I found it.

“I was so starstruck by Anthony Hopkins. It is very magical.

“I’m always excited to meet certain artists who are my heroes.”

She also struggled to film some scenes for other reasons, such as in 2018’s Mary Poppins Returns, when she had to tell director Rob Marshall that she could not repeat her first flying scene.

She says: “I’m not good with heights.

“The Mary Poppins entry was the depths of hell for me, it was so terrifying.

“I did three takes and Rob’s like, ‘Okay, we’re going to…’

“And I go, ‘No, I’m done. I’m done now’. And he goes, ‘OK, we got it’.”

‘Inappropriate films’

She also cried on the set of the 2014 sci-fi story Edge of Tomorrow.

Despite three months of grueling twice-daily workouts to get into peak condition for the role opposite Tom Cruise, the 85lb space suit she had to wear became unbearable.

He says of Tom: “He’s phenomenal.

“He’s like the Energizer Bunny. I’m like, ‘When do you run out of batteries?’

“He was so amazing to me.

“He dived so deep into the action that he confessed within two weeks, ‘This is the most challenging action movie I’ve ever done’.

“And it was Tom Cruise.”

Acting is all Emily has ever wanted to do.

She says: “I’m so excited about him that I can’t believe I’m so cavalier in his entry, because I’m obsessed with him, and love him, and what am I going to do? Now?

“I am unfit for anything. I’m the only one in my family who never went to uni.”

Her barrister father encouraged her love of movies at an early age by renting the 1975 movie Jaws from their local video shop.

Emily, one of four children, says: “My dad used to go to the Google Box video store and get really inappropriate movies for all of us to watch.

“My first experience was seeing Jaws at the age of seven.”

She now plans to make films to help others and adds: “I was a kid who was always really clear.

“I always wanted to make a film about one.

“I know they did it with the King’s Speech but maybe in a different tone, in a different world. It’s a predicament I understand clearly.

“Maybe it’s a bit of a shock to do, but I’d rather play a strike.”

But first he hopes to give the speech of his life at the Oscars next month.

He says of the nomination: “It really makes me buzz with gratitude. I am very impressed with it.”