Ireland

Post box painted gold in honour of Oscar winner Cillian Murphy who ‘delivered for Cork’

Post box in Dublin also given gold treatment by An Post to mark success of Element pictures

A gold wrap has been placed around a post box in Cork to celebrate Cillian Murphy's Oscar win. Photograph: Olivia Kelleher
A gold wrap has been placed around a post box in Cork to celebrate Cillian Murphy's Oscar win. Photograph: Olivia Kelleher
Olivia Kelleher
Fri Mar 15 2024 - 19:23

A gold wrap has been placed around a post box outside Ballintemple Post Office in Cork near the family home of Oscar winner Cillian Murphy.

An Post decided to spruce up the traditional green post box in honour of the 47-year-old who last Sunday scooped the best actor Oscar for his role as theoretical physicist J Robert Oppenheimer in Christopher Nolan’s film Oppenheimer.

Locals are already stopping to take selfies next to the post box which reads: “Cillian Murphy Best Actor Oppenheimer.”

An Post has also put a gold wrap around a post box on O’Connell Street in Dublin to mark the achievement of Element Pictures which produced Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things. Lanthimos’s film won four Oscars including the best actress award for Emma Stone.

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An Post said that Murphy and Element Pictures have brought gold into our lives. “We are happy to in some mark this huge achievement,” the company said.

A spokesman for An Post added that Ballintemple Post Office is marking its 100th year in business at that location.

“Postmaster Colette Collins, on duty at the busy city office, has been busy fielding questions about the newly ‘colourised’ postbox outside,” the spokesman said.

“At An Post we have marked Olympians and previous Oscar winners. Cillian, having brought a little gold into our lives, it is wonderful to be able to give something back by way of a tribute.

“Indeed, you could say that he delivered for Cork and Ireland and we’ve been able to deliver a little something for him.”

The Ballintemple post box will remain gold throughout 2024 to mark Murphy’s achievement.

Earlier this week, Murphy’s father Breandán Ó Murchú told RTÉ’s Raidió na Gaeltachta that they celebrated the big win by going “a bit mad”.

Mr Ó Murchú said that Murphy “spoke well” and that he particularly enjoyed that he dedicated his award to the peacemakers of the world.

The former schools inspector told the An Saol Ó Dheas programme that they hosted an Oscar party for their children and grandchildren at their home in Ballintemple.

“When he mentioned my name, it was like the reading of the rolls at school and I was going to say ‘anseo.’ We had a cake too. It was great to have it at home and we had more than cake,” he said.

Mr Ó Murchú said that he expected that Murphy, his wife Yvonne and their two children, will holiday in the west Kerry Gaeltacht this summer.

[ Cillian Murphy’s primary school celebrates Cork actor’s Oscar win ]

Mr Ó Murchú also said that Murphy will not be going down the blockbuster route now that he has won an Oscar.

“I don’t hear him talking about blockbusters. I don’t think he has too much interest in them unless they have some other quality. Maybe he might make a big enough movie so he could produce smaller scale movies as well,” Mr Ó Murchú said.

Mr Ó Murchú previously spoke to the show when Murphy was nominated for an Oscar earlier this year and said that they were taking a measured approach to the nomination.

“There are so many things happening in the world, that we should be sensible about these things and that is what he is saying himself as well. We are very pleased for him,” he said.

“We don’t like to make too much fuss about him, he’s got a job like the sons and daughters of other people and the difference is he gets a lot of publicity. All the same we’re so happy for him and pleased.”