"I have never witnessed a greater sacrifice by a lead actor in my career," Robert Downey Jr. tells PEOPLE of his "Oppenheimer" costar
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00:00 Robert Downey Jr. was relatably floored by Cillian Murphy's transformative performance
00:05 as J. Robert Oppenheimer in Christopher Nolan's new epic film.
00:09 The world will remember this day.
00:14 The movie revolves around Oppenheimer, an American physicist who led the U.S. effort
00:18 to create an atomic bomb during World War II.
00:22 And Downey praised his co-star, telling People, quote, "I've never witnessed a greater sacrifice
00:27 by a lead actor in my career."
00:29 In the movie, Downey plays Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Louis Strauss, and he says Murphy's
00:33 commitment to the massive undertaking left him impressed.
00:37 Downey explains that Murphy knew it was going to be a behemoth ask when Nolan called him
00:41 for the role, but he also had the humility a role like this required.
00:45 The actor recalls situations where they had a three-day weekend and would make plans to
00:49 go places, but Murphy wouldn't join because he had 30,000 words of Dutch to learn.
00:54 Florence Pugh, who shares most of her scenes with Murphy as one of the major loves of Oppenheimer's
00:59 life, Jean Tadlock, echoed Downey's praise.
01:02 She called working with Murphy one of the best experiences she's ever had and called
01:07 Murphy himself one of the greats.
01:09 Pugh lauded his attention to detail, adding that he knew every single possible way, intonation
01:14 and inflection of how to bring this character to life.
01:18 Murphy's commitment to the role included following a very restrictive diet to more closely resemble
01:23 Oppenheimer.
01:24 The Irish actor addressed his dramatic weight loss for the role during a recent interview
01:28 with IndieWire, stressing, "I don't advise it.
01:32 Oppenheimer is in theaters now."
01:33 (upbeat music)