Oppenheimer composer changed the score after seeing Cillian Murphy's "almost inhuman" performance

The composer for Oppenheimer has explained how Cillian Murphy's performance as the titular physicist helped create the film's score.

Award-winning composer Ludwig Göransson, who previously collaborated with director Christopher Nolan on Dunkirk and Tenet, said he believes that had Murphy not played the lead role, Oppenheimer's score would have "absolutely" been different.

Calling the Irish actor's performance "almost inhuman", he echoed the widespread praise Murphy received upon the release of the film last month. "You’re just living it, you’re breathing it, you’re taking it home,” said Göransson. “It feels like it becomes part of you. That did influence the music when I was writing it.”

The score consists of a recurring violin theme and plays a big role in creating much of the film's nail-biting tension. "Oppenheimer was a genius with a lot of complex layers underneath. With a solo violin, you can play the most beautiful, romantic vibrato. But then if you press down the bow heavily and change the speed, you can make something horrific, manic or neurotic in a split second."

Oppenheimer recently became the highest-grossing WW2 movie ever made. Cork native Cillian Murphy plays Dr J. Robert Oppenheimer, the director of the Manhattan Project. Known by many as the "father of the atomic bomb", the film follows Oppenheimer's life as he helped create the atomic bombs that were dropped on Japan during the war, and what came after.

You can read Hot Press's review of the film here.