How Cillian Murphy Perfected Thomas Shelby

foreign [Music] BBC's peaky blinders I'm always struck by Killian Murphy's performance as Thomas Shelby superficially you could say he looks cool does cool things and says cool things but for me the performance actually hinges on how much is communicated when he's not saying anything if you read the scripts for the first few seasons and just valued the dialogue then yes Killian is physically in almost every scene but on paper he's rarely speaking if it were a radio play you'd consider him a background character who rarely gets air time but because television is a visual medium

that's not how the performance feels instead the series is aesthetically centered around the man who has the power to make decisions whose word is final therefore it's the other characters who have to argue loudly to ensure their voice gets heard while Thomas sits back and listens and the little he actually does say carries more weight than the paragraphs the other person has expressed because it's scarce and considered take this scene from the first episode in which Freddy confronts Thomas in the bar now even though Freddy is doing all the Talking notice how Thomas's body language

steals your attention he doesn't even look at Freddy demonstrating disinterest which automatically makes Freddie have less power as he's vying for Thomas's attention but the feeling doesn't go both ways the script details all of Freddy's dialogue but the action lines are mostly Thomas and His action is inaction we can see here Thomas takes a weary breath Thomas almost Rises to the bait in the silence Thomas senses significant business Thomas doesn't react but we sense he knows more than he's showing Thomas doesn't react Freddy waits for the words to land but Thomas is Poker Face Thomas

still doesn't react Thomas appears to be unmoved but Freddie knows him well and knows he's on to something at last Thomas engages he have Smiles Thomas turns to him and confronts now as you can see most of Thomas's reactions are written as him not reacting but inaction is also action he is doing something by not doing anything is that sometimes I also stand a chance of winning and then when he does finally speak it only takes two lines of dialogue for him to win the scene and we see how futile all of Freddy's attempts were

in his reaction this Dynamic is quite common in peaky blinders Thomas won't even look at the person speaking to him and chooses to just listen this makes Thomas Shelby a vessel for the audience we're taking in information at the same rate he does but he sets the tone for how we feel about it as we're reading his expressions this entire style of Storytelling simply wouldn't work if kylian Murphy wasn't a visual and emotional anchor for the show if I were to sum up what Murphy brings to the table in one word its presence you feel

it when he's in a scene Killian plays it steady and stoic he doesn't use any unnecessary movements he's usually sitting or standing still which helps us focus on the one part of him that's telling the real story of what's Happening his eyes when I think about Thomas Shelby I don't think about the quotes or the violence I picture a man thinking given people are constantly looking to get something out of him and he's at risk of them working for one of his enemies decisions are never made lightly there's a lot to consider and Killian shows

us this thought process we can see the wheels turning using just his eyes we see Thomas connecting the dots and formulating them into a strategy the rest of his face is essentially blank but these small subtle eye movements communicate a lot this may sound simple but if you film yourself trying to do this it's not as easy as he makes it look what's interesting is that Thomas's expression and emotional state decides what the meaning of the scene is take this scene for instance in which he observes a Russian Aristocrat indulgently eating caviar while talking excessively

you met my niece already Tatiana are you in love with her yet um even though he's asked a question Thomas is deadpan and just sitting back figuring him out he doesn't answer him just inspect him why is he saying what he's saying how does he want me to react to what he's doing what's his goal of this meeting we like Thomas don't know what to make of this guy yet this shows us the power of silence and listening the more you speak the more you give away about yourself and your intentions if Thomas was amused

or trying to be good company then it would show he has a need to please others which is a weak negotiating position when there's more than one person Killian uses steady eye contact as he reads them individually and decides whether or not they can be trusted as if he's sniffing out a missing link or inconsistency what are they not telling me it's methodical if his eyes were bouncing around at each person quickly we would have insight into his thought process but it would seem more erratic and emotional as if he's antsy to make a decision

but it's in these calculating looks that we see his true character the silent pauses often last beyond 10 seconds before he finally speaks it was meant to be routine Killian acts as if each sentence he voices is moving a piece on a chessboard once it's out it's out and can't be taken back and this makes us value what he says because the thought has been earned or he States a question and simply lays his dead eyes on the other person and they just like the audience can't tell what he's up to Killian makes this feel

like an interrogation he offers you something to see how you react because he's not interested in what you'll say he's interested in what you'll do when he sits down with Campbell and tells him what he wants from him notice how Sam Neil plays this scene differently he's not yet as cold or calculating as Thomas and emotionally reacts to what he's hearing meanwhile on the other side Killian stares at him with unbroken eye contact as he speaks you could watch this scene on mute and still understand what's happening just from the visual alone we can see

who's winning the exchange one is steamrolling the other all of these mannerisms send a signal that Thomas is the one who decides what's happening who you are what you'll get and what you want it's a battle for control but whenever Killian wants Thomas to be actively persuasive he opens his eyes wide and stares deep into the other person's soul even grabbing their face sometimes these wide-eyed moments showcase a more emotional side of the character if he's persuading it's as if he can see something exciting that you can't and he's inviting the other character to see

it too or if he feels confused and behind his eyes are wide open as he wants to see what's really going on or when he knows someone betrayed him they're open wide as he's trying to quickly find out the truth so here Killian is consistently using his eyes as our direct insight to the character's motivation he's not always so cold calculating and contemplative sometimes he's making quicker decisions because he has multiple things on his mind typically when Grace is involved his affection for her causes his heart to beat faster and Killian shows us this through

his pupils bouncing back and forth quicker as he searches in her eyes this is important because the audience won't emotionally connect with him if he's totally closed off so without going overboard kylian has to find a subtle way to give us insight into what he's feeling he's being more impulsive as he can't think clearly without emotional interference so Grace brings out this less rational More Human Side to him this carries over to when he's taking revenge for what happened to her because it's still motivated by the same affection so we see the same quick irrational

decisions except this time he's possessed by a violent Instinct a complete contrast to the steady man we've seen before when he's filled with fear whether it's PTSD or a fear for Grace we see him physically flustered and unable to manage his energy levels and it's not just in his eyes but his breathing everything increases in speed which makes it feel like he's suffocating these rare moments of frantic movement showeth Thomas losing control which is an important contrast because the rest of the time Killian is playing the personification of a man in control both of himself

and others but every once in a while the emotion slips out and captures him yet it's how Killian handles moments with conflicting emotions that impresses me most when there's this internal battle between his true feelings and his obligations for example my favorite is when Thomas has to explain to his son that his mom is gone and she's never coming back of course a scene like that is going to be emotional but there's so many ways to play it he could be over the top crying or catatonic as he so emotionally exhausted or he could grab

his son and hug him because he needs intimacy but that wouldn't really ring true to the character what is true is that Thomas instinctively tries to be in control no matter what and sometimes being responsible for others helps us to feel more in control of ourselves so he chooses to play as repressed and matter of fact the way they are but despite the frontise putting on as he speaks underneath Killian shows us a lost and confused grief-stricken man searching for answers we don't need to see him weeping to know he's heartbroken we don't need to

see him hold his arms up in the air to know he's lost it's a vulnerable delicate moment and it's all through his eyes his son doesn't even understand what he's saying only making his pain feel more isolating and then as that feeling becomes suffocating a quick look up to the heavens as he sucks in a breath essentially swallowing the feeling and then switches right back to his obligations to his son these scenes aren't the loudest or flashiest Clips in the series but they are the most human and add a dimension to the character that can't

quite be captured in dialogue it's the moments between the words that speak the loudest most actors starting off are always chasing more lines they want a speaking role as understandably speaking generally guarantees screen time but with Thomas Shelby Killian Murphy shows us the power of silence and how much can be said without necessarily needing to say anything at all foreign [Music] if you enjoy content like this and want to see more of it please do consider supporting me on patreon as it really does make a difference to how much content I can pump out or

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