Cillian Murphy has turned down numerous music biopics despite being a musician himself

Cillian Murphy's first passion was music, so it would be fair to say that he is a prime candidate for potentially appearing in a music biopic at some point in his career.

The Irish actor most recently appeared in Oppenheimer in which he played a real person - a feat he has achieved previously.

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Even though he has experience playing real people and is, in his own words, a "failed musician", Murphy wants to keep his passion for music away from his work.

"I almost want to protect my relationship with it," he told Rolling Stone about his love for music.

"It was my first love, and I worked really hard at trying to be a musician and it didn't work out. But I've turned down quite a few biopic roles of musicians. I'd much prefer to watch a three-hour Scorsese doc about George Harrison than play George Harrison in a bad wig."

Murphy was quick to clarify that he was just using Harrison as an example, saying: 

"It wasn't George Harrison I was asked to play, by the way."

Murphy is coming off a leading performance in one of the biggest movies of the summer, Oppenheimer.

As well as praise from director Christopher Nolan and his co-stars like Robert Downey Jr, Matt Damon and Emily Blunt, he has received acclaim from critics, many of whom have predicted an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in his future.