Cillian Murphy has revealed that the international fame he has received since starring as Tommy Shelby in "Peaky Blinders" can "ruin experiences."

Murphy said fame "fetishizes everything" and often leaves him unable to walk down the street without having his picture taken during a lengthy interview with Rolling Stone UK, of which he's the June cover star.

"You can be walking down the street and someone takes a picture like this is a f*cking event. It kind of destroys nuance and human behavior, but that’s part and parcel of it," the Cork actor told Rolling Stone.

However, Murphy said fame tends to "evaporate with regularity" and said people are used to him in New Ross, Co Wexford, where he is filming his new movie "Small Things Like These."

"Nobody cares. I go to the shop. It dissipates. But if…one of the guys from ‘Succession’ walked in here, I’d be all intimidated and shaky. When you’re confronted with someone you’ve invested a lot in, or you think is amazing, the encounter is strange," Murphy said. 

Murphy said he finds it "offensive" when people photograph him, adding that people are a little "underwhelmed when they meet him because they expect him to act with the "swagger" of Tommy Shelby. 

"It’s just a character. I do feel people are a little bit underwhelmed. That’s fine, it means I’m doing my job," he said. 

"Sometimes I feel a little sad that I can’t provide — like — that charisma and swagger. He couldn’t be further from me." 

The final episode of "Peaky Blinders" aired in April 2022, but Murphy told Rolling Stone that he would be open to playing Tommy Shelby again in a movie adaptation of the popular series. 

"If there’s more story there, I’d love to do it. But it has to be right. Steve Knight wrote 36 hours of television, and we left on such a high. I’m really proud of that last series. So, it would have to feel legitimate and justified to do more." 

Speaking about his latest production, which focuses on Irish society's moral complicity in the Magdalene Laundries scandal, Murphy told Rolling Stone that the new film is an "important story for Ireland."

"Everyone in Ireland that you talk to, of a certain generation, more or less has a story. It’s just in Irish people. What happened with the church, I think we’re still kind of processing it. And art can be a balm for that, it can help with that." 

"Small Things Like These" is being adapted from Claire Keegan's critically acclaimed novella of the same name and Murphy reportedly sees the film as his passion project. 

He told Rolling Stone that he insisted on filming on location at St. Mary's, a defunct Catholic school in New Ross that once served as a Magdalene Laundry. 

"Being on location does something to the subconscious of the actors. I was very insistent that we didn’t build any sets, there’s no studio work: it’s all location work." 

In the meantime, Murphy is set to star in the lead role of Christopher Nolan's upcoming drama "Oppenheimer", which explores the invention of the atomic bomb. The film will hit cinemas on July 21. 

You can check out behind-the-scenes clips from Cillian Murphy's Rolling Stone UK cover shoot here:

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