Did the 'Maestro' actor throw shade at the Corkman?

It's been a huge year for Cillian Murphy, with the success of 'Oppenheimer' leading many to believe that an Oscar nomination - and possibly even a win - is inevitable.

The Cork man's Hollywood rise has been roundly celebrated, especially here in his native Ireland - but it seems that not everyone is happy for his success.

Bradley Cooper has fallen foul of fans of Murphy after making a sly dig during an interview with Variety, where he was in conversation with Emma Stone in their 'Actors on Actors' series.

Cooper was discussing his film 'Maestro' - a biopic of composer Leonard Bernstein that he directed and stars in. He drew parallels between the long period of preparation that he did for the role, and the same lengthy period that Stone undertook for her own role in 'Poor Things'. Both films took six years to make.

“I feel like you couldn’t have made Poor Things if you didn’t have a tremendous amount of prep, and it’s the same thing with Maestro," said Cooper. "This wasn’t like you got a call, and in six months you’re going to do it. This had to have taken years."

The comment has been taken by many as a dig at Murphy, who had previously said that he had six months to research the character of J. Robert Oppenheimer in Christopher Nolan's film - and many fans have rushed to Murphy's defence.