Cillian Murphy Oppenheimer diet: Peaky Blinders actor ate ‘an almond a day’ to get into shape for new movie

Cillian Murphy looks worlds away from his Peaky Blinders days, where he played the ruthless Tommy Shelby, and underwent a gruelling regime to transform into Julius Robert Oppenheimer for the highly anticipated movie ‘Oppenheimer’.

The 47-year-old has transformed into the American Theoretical Physicist for the upcoming movie that is directed by Christopher Nolan. It’s set for release on Friday, July 21. The film follows Oppenheimer as he developed the first atomic bomb as part of the secret Manhattan Project.

Murphy lost a lot of weight to get into ‘shape’ for the role - including using techniques such as one where he would only eat one almond a day. It took him almost half a year to prepare himself for the role.

In a new interview, he said: "I love acting with my body, and Oppenheimer had a very distinct physicality and silhouette, which I wanted to get right. I had to lose quite a bit of weight, and we worked with the costume and tailoring; he was very slim, almost emaciated, existed on martinis and cigarettes."

Cillian even went as far as to work with professionals to perfect Oppenheimer’s "silhouette and expressions" right before filming. He revealed to the New York Times he tested himself on how little he could eat.

The actor didn’t reveal exactly how much weight he lost in preparation for the movie, but said the hectic schedule caused him to not think about how much he ate, and he was instead running on just ‘crazy energy’.