INT: Cillian Murphy

Last Updated on July 28, 2021

28 DAYS LATER
star Cillian
Murphy made a splash earlier this summer as Dr. Jonathan Crane/The Scarecrow in
BATMAN BEGINS, Christopher Nolan’s successful resurrection of the
once-beleaguered franchise. This week he returns to theatres in the Wes Craven
thriller
RED EYE,
playing a would-be assassin who makes Rachel McAdams’ life a living hell. Last
week Cillian stopped by the Regent Beverly Wilshire in

Los Angeles

, where he spoke in a thick Irish brogue about his experience making RED EYE. At
least that’s what I think he talked about. Truth is, I could barely understand
anything he said. Seemed like a nice guy, though. Enjoy!

Cillian
Murphy

What
attracted you to this project?

It
was the quality of the script – I found it very compelling.
I ready it very quickly and I thought that was a good sign, when you read
a script and don’t put it down. And
the movie rests on the performances, on the two of us together.
We have to create that tension and everything else.
I liked it; it was unusual.

You
play a villain in both this film and Batman Begins.
Are you worried that audiences will only think of you as a bad guy?

No. No
because I’ve done 12 feature films and have played a bad guy in two of them. I
have many other films coming out in the meantime that I’ve shot either before
or after or in between Batman Begins and Red Eye. And I think audiences are a
lot more intelligent than what we give them credit for and understand that an
actor is playing a role and that doesn’t mean he can’t play different types
of roles. So I think it’s myopic to think that a person can only play and
embody characters that don’t you know sit within our own model structure.

I would
concede that I feel I’ve had my quota of bad guys.
It’s nice to know that you can do that.
You see, everything to me is like, “Can I do that?”
And everything is a challenge.

What
was it like working with Wes Craven? Did
you have any preconceived notions of him as simply a genre filmmaker?

What was
interesting for me was if you superimposed all of his talents – what he can do
in terms of tension and suspense and all that sort of stuff – and superimposed
that onto a thriller structure, which is a different type of movie for Wes, I
thought that was very interesting. And
obviously he scared the shit out of me as a kid, watching the Freddy movies.
So it was cool to work with someone like that.
I’ve been very lucky with the directors that I’ve worked with.
You never think when you’re growing up that you’ll actually get to
work with these people.

And
you flew out to meet with Wes right before your wedding?

It’s
terrible that this story’s gotten legs now, but it wasn’t actually the
wedding. I was just doing the
registry office thing, so I didn’t leave my bride standing there on the altar.
But I did fly out to meet him in LAX at that revolving restaurant for
like 40 minutes, then I got straight back on a flight and went home.
Time-tabling meant that we had to meet then, you know?
It was apt, I guess, to meet like that.

Did
Wes give you any backstory on your character?
Who he works for, where he’s from, etc.?

We
did talk about that. You have to do
that for any character; any part you play has to have stuff that you can draw
on. You have to have information
that you can use or not use. 80% of
what we do, you don’t see on the screen, you know?
But I like the way that there’s really no need to investigate this
character. He’s just there and
he’s fundamentally what he is. It’s
pretty simple what his objective is. You
have to have all of this stuff in you head; you need it to justify the
decisions. You need to understand
the man’s thought processes.

Do
you think he is a sociopath?

Sociopath
is a word now that has sort of become shorthand for psychopath and there’s a
distinct difference. It’s interesting if you look it up. Sociopath if you look
at the medical definition the profile of a sociopath is that they are supremely
intelligent people that are also pathological liars.

I didn’t
want to throw that word around too much because people don’t understand what
it means. But, I looked at it objectively. The whole professional thing was what
I went back to. That was his job. That is his object. He is requesting she makes
a phone call and she declines that request. Then he has to find another way of
achieving a goal and that’s the way you have to look at it.

With
28 Days Later, which ending did you prefer? (Contains
spoilers for those who haven’t seen 28 Days Later)

I
prefer the one where he dies, to be honest. I
liked the idea of two strong women going off in that last closing shot.
It’s convenient that I recovered so well from that gunshot to the gut. (laughs)

Any
chance for a sequel?

Well I
think they are talking about it, but just the producers are involved. And that
for me is a full stop. I would hate to go back.

What’s
next for you?

I
just finished shooting a Ken Loach movie. I
just did a Neil Jordan movie in between (Batman Begins and Red Eye).
I’m starting this Danny Boyle movie called Sunshine at the moment.

You
play a transvestite in the Neil Jordan film, Breakfast on Pluto.
How did you prepare for the role?

I
went out and spent a lot of time with transvestites and transsexuals.
I went out clubbing with them and did stuff in London as the character.
Of course, there’s a lot of grooming involved, you know?
Hats off to the ladies. I
understand it’s not an easy job being a lady.
A lot of plucking and shaving and all that kind of thing. It
was wonderful. I love those
transformative roles. I think for an
actor they’re the most exciting.