A man who works as a double for Cillian Murphy has told how demand for his services has rocketed in the run-up to this weekend's Oscars.
Cork A-lister Murphy is hot favourite to land the Best Actor award for Oppenheimer - one of 13 nominations for the critically-acclaimed picture.
Murphy's compelling portrayal of J. Robert Oppenheimer, - the Jewish scientist who developed the atomic bomb during World War II - has already earned him a string of prestigious awards in recent weeks, including a BAFTA.
READ MORE: Oscar-nominated Cillian Murphy emerges as new favourite to take over James Bond role after Daniel Craig
But while winning an Oscar - the most prestigious movie award of them all - would inevitably transform the talented Irish actor into a genuine global star, it would also benefit his lesser-known lookalike, Scott Blower.
Scott, from Manchester, said bookings for his work as a double have shot up in recent weeks in the build-up to the Academy Awards.
And even though he works primarily as a Tommy Shelby impersonator - the fictional character made famous by 47-year-old Murphy in smash-hit TV drama, Peaky Blinders - he attributes the actor's multi-award winning success in Oppenheimer with triggering a surge in bookings for him as a doppelganger.
The 51-year-old father-of-two, who combines his full-time work as an installation manager with weekend gigs as a professional lookalike, said: "I've been doing this on the side for about 10 years now, ever since Peaky Blinders first came out."I never intended to get into it, but Peaky Blinders quickly became very popular and one night when I was in a local pub the barmaid told me I looked like Cillian Murphy, and I looked in the mirror and thought, 'I know what she means.'
"Anyway, I've been doing work as a double on and off since then, and it's been a lot of fun, and while most of the work is local, I've had offers of work from all over the world, including the US and even South Korea. But the phone's been ringing a lot more recently, and that's because of all the awards that Cillian Murphy and Oppenheimer have won.
"And it's not just the extra work offers I'm getting, because everywhere I go at the moment people strangers keep shouting out to me or coming up to me, mistaking me for Cillian Murphy. But I don't mind it all. I have a laugh with it."
He added: "If Cillian does go on to win the Oscar, I wouldn't be surprised if I start getting 20 calls a week. If that happens, I may have to start working as a double full-time."
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