Peaky Blinders' Filming Schedule Had Cillian Murphy All Sorts Of Confused
"Peaky Blinders" star Cillian Murphy has always been perfectly frank about his experiences shooting the bloody drama TV show. The herbal cigarettes are a lot, the haircuts were "alarming," and don't even get the actor started on the as-yet unmade sequel film. The role of Tommy Shelby has no doubt been one of the most rewarding of Murphy's career — it's earned him a BAFTA, among other awards — but the process of bringing the complex period piece to life surely took some getting used to. Case in point: In 2019, Murphy told the Birmingham Mail he needed a short guide from one director in order to understand the show's non-chronological shooting schedule.
"We could be doing episode four in the morning and the finale in the afternoon," Murphy told the outlet. He added: "It was an incredibly mindf***ing shoot, so I got our director Tim Mielants to draw up four A4 sheets which I put up in my trailer." The paper summary held information "about where Tommy was going," as well as "where he was at with the Russians at any point." That way, Murphy could keep his character's current motivations in order, even when the show was shooting out of order. Or as he put it: "I needed it to figure out what the hell was going on."
'It was an incredibly mindf***ing shoot'
Plenty of TV shows famously shoot out of order. For example, a recent behind-the-scenes look at season 4 of "Stranger Things" described itself as "a day in the life on the set" of the Netflix juggernaut, despite the fact that it featured filming, costuming, stuntwork, and more for several different episodes at once. It's a system that can result in some topsy-turvy moments for actors, who might be asked to perform love for a character one moment and rage at them in the next. In the case of the Shelby family drama, allegiances are constantly changing, and even viewers might feel like they need a map to keep track of Tommy's current alliances.
It makes sense that Murphy would mention this system, as "Peaky Blinders" is actually only the second TV show the actor has ever performed in. The talented star is known for his work in films like "Oppenheimer," "28 Days Later," and "Batman Begins," but before all of those acclaimed turns he appeared in a 2001 miniseries called "The Way We Live Now." Murphy played a character named Paul in the adaptation of Anthony Trollope's classic story and starred opposite Matthew Macfayden. Otherwise, the actor likely hasn't had much exposure to the non-sequential style of TV production – especially not on a show as massively popular as "Peaky Blinders."
Luckily, the shooting guide worked, as Mielants directed Murphy throughout the show's particularly acclaimed third season. Season 3 followed the Peaky Blinders as they dealt with a group of Soviet rebels, coped with the deaths of several key characters, and even blew up a train in the final episode. All the while, Murphy anchored the drama with a strong performance – one that gave no hint that it was shot completely out of order.
All six seasons of "Peaky Blinders" are now on Netflix. The "Peaky Blinders" movie does not yet have a release date.