An ancient showbiz gag has an eager young man, lost on arrival in New York, stopping an older passer-by to ask: ‘Hey, do you know the way to Carnegie Hall?’
asserted
you → have → Hall
‘Hard work and practice, kid!’ comes the reply.
asserted
reply → come → ?
There’s always been a shortcut to stardom, and these days it is taken by almost a third of actors.
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it → take → actors
The trick is to get yourself born to famous parents.
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yourself → get → parents
More than ever, the newcomers snapping up prime roles are ‘nepo-babies’, the children of existing stars, able to trade on their parents’ names and connections.
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newcomers → snap → names
At the front of the current pack is Aran Murphy, 19-year-old son of Oscar-winning Oppenheimer and Peaky Blinders megastar Cillian Murphy.
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Murphy → win → Oppenheimer
Not only has he scooped two major TV roles and a coveted film part this year, but his inherited celebrity has arguably made him almost more newsworthy than his older co-stars.
He plays Gabriel, the truculent son of a Hollywood actress and her billionaire husband (Sienna Miller and Dominic West) in the divorce drama War, on Sky Atlantic.
asserted
He → scoop → Atlantic
Aran Murphy has been cast as Rick in Klara And The Sun, an adaptation of Nobel prize-winner Kazuo Ishiguro’s fantasy, which will be released in cinemas this Friday
He plays Gabriel in Sky Atlantic's divorce drama War, the truculent son of a Hollywood actress and her billionaire husband (played by Sienna Miller and Dominic West)
He has also been cast as Rick, by director Taika Waititi in his adaptation of Nobel prize-winner Kazuo Ishiguro’s fantasy Klara And The Sun, which is released in cinemas this Friday.
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which → cast → cinemas
His biggest and best role, though, is in the comedy-drama Youth, starring and written by Sharon Horgan, on HBO Max.
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role → star → Max
Aran plays university drop-out Ruari, divorcee Horgan’s truculent son – sound familiar? – with limitless privileges but behavioural issues.
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Aran → play → privileges
Indeed, Ruari’s conduct is so foully obnoxious that one colleague told me he felt like throwing up after the first episode.
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he → tell → episode
Every minute that he’s on screen will make you squirm.
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you → ’ → screen
At his school graduation ceremony, while other pupils line up politely to accept their awards, Ruari seizes the microphone and launches into an inane protest rap about ‘pigs’ and ‘sheep’, before baring his backside at the assembled parents.
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Ruari → line → parents
However, instead of disciplining him – because clearly this boy has never had a telling-off in his life – his family take him for a celebratory lunch.
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family → discipline → lunch
Ruari sulks, sneers, and then grabs a plate of soft burrata cheese, attempting to cram it into his mouth with both bare hands.
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Ruari → sulk → hands
(‘That was meant for the whole table,’ his dad’s girlfriend admonishes him weakly.
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girlfriend → mean → him
It’s a gift of a role, the kind of casting that could launch a career.
uncertain
that → ’ → career
But any other young actor, whether a drama school veteran or a college novice, will be entitled to watch Youth and think, ‘I wouldn’t have had an ice-cream’s chance in hell of landing that part.’
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I → entitle → part
Aran is the 19-year-old son of Oscar-winning Cillian Murphy, who has starred in Oppenheimer, Peaky Blinders and Dunkirk
Aran's biggest role yet is university drop-out Ruari in the comedy-drama Youth on HBO
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role → win → HBO
Aran Murphy didn’t just have a head start.
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Murphy → have → start
He was out of the blocks, around the track and over the line before the starting gun was fired.
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gun → fire → line
How else is it possible that he banked two such key (and similar roles) in two major TV productions, while already in line for a movie premiere?
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he → bank → premiere
That’s not mere luck.
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That → ’ → ?
The dice are loaded.
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dice → load → ?
All this is not to suggest he’s an unworthy actor.
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he → suggest → ?
These parts demand talent, and I’m sure he has it.
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he → demand → it
Horgan is not one to suffer fools either – Youth is a deeply personal piece of work for her, and she would never allow it to be spoiled by substandard acting, no matter whose children were involved.
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children → suffer → acting
But it’s unreasonable to ask us to believe that Aran’s real-life parentage didn’t have some influence.
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parentage → ’ → influence
Since his breakthrough in 2002 in the horror thriller 28 Days Later, he has starred in blockbusters from Batman Begins to Dunkirk, as well as achieving icon status as 1920s gangster Tommy Shelby.
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he → star → Shelby
What writer, producer or director wouldn’t want to be associated with Cillian Murphy?
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writer → want → Murphy
Given the option of casting an unknown teenager, or giving the role to the son of a powerbroker, the choice is too often inevitable.
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choice → give → powerbroker
Some actors from obscure backgrounds do break through, of course, such as Warrington-born Owen Cooper – the young star of the Netflix hit and multi- award-winning Adolescence, whose parents Andy and Noreen work in IT and social care.
But the publicity value of a family name is priceless.
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value → break → name
In the past few weeks, Aran has been interviewed by Variety magazine, GQ and a host of other industry voices.
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Aran → interview → voices
He comes across as modest, patient, amusing, even self-deprecating – well-versed in media skills, in fact, just as you might expect of someone whose father has been in the business for decades.
uncertain
father → come → decades
Social media has debated endlessly how closely Aran resembles his dad.
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Aran → debate → dad
Some claim he looks like an AI version of a teenage Cillian.
uncertain
he → claim → Cillian
For what it’s worth, I think the boy lacks his father’s unearthly beauty, with a rounder face and cheekbones that are merely human, not alien.
asserted
that → ’ → face
Obsessive fans online also argue that Aran’s success is pre-ordained because he has inherited Cillian’s thespian genius.
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he → argue → genius
That seems patent nonsense.
asserted
That → seem → ?
If artistic brilliance could be passed down from father to son, Julian Lennon would be a chart-topping songwriter and Brooklyn Beckham would be a midfield wizard.
uncertain
Beckham → pass → son
…and 19 more, not listed.
The Aporia
