“I avoid the monitor when I’m making films,” the actor Cillian Murphy narrates in his new Versace ad spot, “because it’s a different character, you know?”
The newly minted Academy Award winner plays himself—or a version of himself, at least—in the Italian label’s latest Versace Icons campaign, which the brand first announced following Murphy’s big win last month. (The actor had hinted at the upcoming ambassadorship on Oscars night with his custom-made Atelier Versace tux.) It’s a departure from the chameleonic film roles Murphy typically selects. On a movie set, he says he avoids the playback monitor because “you never want to…affect what your kind of journey is.” But in the Versace spot, he’s down to watch the footage roll in.
Courtesy of Versace
The commercial, which takes inspiration from the boldly sexy Versace Men’s campaigns of the 1990s, offers a behind-the-scenes look at its own making. Filmed amidst the bustling atmosphere of the photo shoot, Murphy wears pieces from Versace’s essentials-focused Icons line: a simple white tank layered under a tailored black jacket with matching high-waisted trousers, belted with a golden Medusa buckle; a khaki trench with a back panel constructed from one of the brand’s splashy Barocco-printed silk scarves.
Soundtracking the clip is the song handpicked by Murphy himself: “Boys in the Better Land” by the actor’s fellow Irishmen, the Dublin post-punk band Fontaines D.C.
“Collaborating with Donatella—from sharing image references to selecting the music of Fontaines D.C. for the video—resulted in a campaign that reflects who I am,” the actor said in a statement. He’d previously included the band on his BBC 6 Music playlist: “These boys are really exploding,” he said then, shouting out their 2019 album Dogrel. “Every single tune, they’re relentlessly themselves.”
Courtesy of Versace
Murphy co-stars in the Versace Icons campaign alongside Anne Hathaway, whom he incidentally also appeared alongside in Christopher Nolan’s 2012 superhero sequel The Dark Knight Rises.
“Strong, direct, iconic. For me, Anne and Cillian are two of the best actors of today,” Donatella Versace said in a statement. “Exceptionally talented and kind people I admire and respect, looking their best. Very Versace.”
