Peaky Blinders star Cillian Murphy said he’s more like his character Thomas Shelby’s “cowardly brother” in real life.
The Cork native plays chainsmoking gangster Tommy Shelby in the 1920s crime drama set in Birmingham.
However, despite admitting that it takes him two weeks to shake off the iconic character of Shelby, he said he doesn’t identify with him at all.
He said: “I really don’t identify with him. He’s a total stranger to me, but he’s the only character I’ve returned to in my career.
“He is a relentless character – he never sleeps, he never eats – his ambition is limitless.
“So you need to be able to embody that.
“Ask any actor – if you do something well there’s inevitably some sort of exchange.
“It’s not a methody thing, it’s not a conscious thing,” he says.
“I could never go on to another character – firstly, because you’ve got that mad haircut, but because I need time to decompress because I’m nothing like him.
“I’m like his cowardly brother.”
The fifth season sees the Shelbys coming to terms with a rising tide of fascism around Europe in the buildup to the second world war.
And speaking to The Guardian, Murphy said it’s a response to the current rising tide of populism around the world.
He said: “Without a doubt. You can find Mosley’s speeches online. It’s the playbook for populism: make Britain great again, he says that. False news etc.
“He was a fascinating challenge for Tommy, because he sees that it’s starting all over again, in terms of world conflict.”
The actor had also been tipped as a potential new James Bond, along with frontrunners James Norton and Richard Madden.
However, squashing any speculation, he ruled himself out of the running and suggested that the role should be filled by a woman.
He said: “The thing about it is, if you say anything about Bond it becomes the headline, right?”.
“There’s two things I’ll say about that. Firstly, there’s a whole other industry which is completely separate from the film side of things, and that’s the bookies.
“The second thing I’d say is that I think it should be a woman, which rules me out.”
