Several days ago, we learned that the stars of “Barbenheimer” would be paired for Variety’s Actors on Actors series. Cillian Murphy and Margot Robbie got their own Variety cover and they got to interview each other about their respective hit summer films. I wondered how it came together, then Variety editor/journalist Ramin Setoodeh noted on Twitter that when they were putting together this year’s series, Cillian’s people reached out and asked if Cillian could be paired with Margot. I LOVE IT.

You sort of wouldn’t know it from the video and print interview, that Cillian was the one who wanted this. Maybe Cillian knows himself and understands his introverted nature, because Margot did most of the talking and he seemed quite happy with that. The video is better than the print interview though – you can see that Cillian is quite engaged with whatever Margot is saying, even if he’s mostly just saying “yeah, yeah, oh.” It helps that Margot is a big Cillian Murphy fan too, and she’s a Peaky Blinders super-fan.

Margot also confirmed that Oppenheimer producer Chuck Roven called her and tried to convince her to change Barbie’s release date. She said: “I was like, ‘We’re not moving our date. If you’re scared to be up against us, then you move your date.’” You can read the Variety piece here, but I would recommend the video:

Cillian Murphy: “I do know what a meme is. Now I know that there are memes about me not knowing what a meme is.”

“It’s a great meme,” says Margot Robbie. “It’s like ‘Inception’ of memes.” #ActorsOnActors

— Variety (@Variety) December 5, 2023

Margot Robbie tells Cillian Murphy an ‘Oppenheimer’ producer asked her to move the ‘Barbie’ release date to avoid competition:

“I was like, ‘we’re not moving our date, if you’re scared to be up against us then you move your date – I was like, I think this is actually a great…

— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) December 5, 2023

Cover courtesy of Variety.