Cillian Murphy is known, it’s fair to say, for picking interesting roles, never opting for a paycheque over a passion project. The lead role in Red Eye and the mantle of Scarecrow in Batman Begins are his biggest turns to date, but in both cases his desire to work with interesting directors like Wes Craven and Christopher Nolan was clearly his driving force.
So it’s appropriate that he’s followed up his moving turn in Ken Loach’s Palme d’Or winning The Wind That Shakes the Barley by re-teaming with Danny Boyle for his science-fiction masterstroke, Sunshine. Rotten Tomatoes UK caught up with Cillian Murphy ahead of the film’s release to find out more.
RT-UK: How are you enjoying talking about the film?
Cillian Murphy: I think what’s great about this film is that first of all I’m really proud of it and second there’s a lot to talk about. It makes it easier!
RT-UK: I went to CERN with the science advisor on the film, Dr. Brian Cox, and had my mind blown away. You did the same trip, how was it?
CM: It is mind-blowing isn’t it? I went over and I’m sure had the same tour you had; went underground and saw the huge particle accelerator that they’re still building and I talked to a lot of the physicists working over there. A lot of it went way over my head, I have to say, but you do realise this is something monumental and anything could happen when they turn the thing on! And, also, that place is full of brilliant people. It’s the cream of every university in the world. Even the brightest brains on this planet are in Geneva, it’s mad.
RT-UK: Kind-of makes you feel a bit useless though…
CM: Totally, yeah! [laughs]
RT-UK: From talking to Brian it seems like the film has been giving you guys plenty to talk about, the ideas and the science behind it. I guess that’s not the case with every project you do.
CM: You’re right. I think Alex Garland, who wrote the script, is obviously a big science fiction fan but I think he’s also very interested in science. When Brian came on board – and I think he just came on board to check there was nothing glaringly wrong with the script that would take people out of the story – he found that in fact most of it was quite possible. The sun will die, just not for five billion years! I was in CERN and one of the guys there did a whole blackboard full of equations to show me how you could make a bomb with dark matter. It’s Science-faction, if you can use that phrase!
RT-UK: Danny mentioned that you’d somewhat modelled your performance on Brian; the two of you look very, very similar…
CM: As an actor you’re constantly observing people and I love looking at people’s little idiosyncrasies and mannerisms. It’s always very interesting and you can always steal bits and pieces for characters. Because I was spending so much time with Brian, and because he’s a young physicist, I probably borrowed a bit from him.
You know he used to play in D:Ream! It’s bonkers! It’s quite a segue from “Things Can Only Get Better” to particle physics!
He’s a very good reference, I think, because cinema has portrayed physicists or scientists in the past as fuddy-duddy grey-haired eccentric individuals and it was nice to explore that. Anytime you spend a lot of time with a person as an actor you kind-of steal things.
RT-UK: Are you a sci-fi fan?
CM: I don’t know what qualifies you as a sci-fi fan, really, I was a huge Star Wars fan growing up, but there seems to be the fantasy side and the more serious science side. And then, as I got older, I watched those masterpieces – Solaris and 2001. They were always our inspiration, I think. As Danny says, you’re walking in the footsteps of giants, you know, to be mentioned in the same breath as those movies would be such an honour. They’re the type of movies that definitely inspired Danny and Alex to make this film. But I don’t know if I’m a fan per-se.
RT-UK: You’re a fan if you watch those movies more than once I guess…
CM: There are certain movies I watch again and again in terms of inspiration as an actor and the possibilities of filmmaking but as you get older I find you’re more interested in discovering new movies and it’s rare you’ll go back and rediscover the classics. Occasionally I’ll have a night in and do it.
Actually I did re-watch Alien – Danny screened it at the Empire in Leicester Square for us. He also screened Das Boot, Wages of Fear… They’re all very much related to the story we were trying to tell.
RT-UK: I get the impression from watching his films that Danny is a very collaborative filmmaker; he allows his cast and crew to bring their ideas to the table. Is that an accurate assessment?
CM: I think that Danny loves people just knocking ideas about. He loves when you bring suggestions and character ideas to the table, rather than it being a director dictating or any of that. He’s very into collaborating with everyone. Every head of department is involved and he loves throwing ideas around. And people do bring a huge amount to the character. He’ll say, “We’ll try it and if it works we’ll use it.”
His energy and his enthusiasm and his passion for filmmaking is just boundless and it’s infectious also. Particularly on something like this; it took three years of his life. I was on it for four months with a bit of post-production but it’s been three years and it’s mind-blowing. When he comes in with that level of commitment, everyone else has to step up to the mark. He pushes you hard, both emotionally and physically.
RT-UK: And more than most British directors he’s making films that can compete with the big studio blockbusters…
CM: It’s very exciting from an actor’s point of view. This film looks like it came out of big Fox or Warners or somewhere huge that spent hundreds of millions of dollars on it. But it didn’t, it came out of Bow in East London and the budget was tiny. And he’s kind-of fearless, Danny is, as a director. He doesn’t have that sort-of insecurity or anything as a director. He feels he can make films that can compete and can be commercially successful and it’s great that he has that courage and confidence.
RT-UK: Sunshine has a pretty incredible cast; were you close during filming?
CM: The main thing that Danny did that made us bond was that he put us all in these student digs for two weeks to live together prior to shooting. The main opening scene of the movie where everyone is introduced – we’re having dinner – and I think that scene is a bit of hat-tipping to Alien, actually – to achieve that level of familiarity, of having lived with someone and been in someone’s personal space, it kind-of takes it to another level. You can act it, but when you’ve actually done it, it just elevates it.
RT-UK: I think you can always tell when a cast has genuinely bonded. It must be a bit surreal, though, to be living in student digs with Michelle Yeoh.
CM: [laughs] It was fun, actually, and I think Danny’s not going to cast the sort of actors who’d have problems with that. Everyone mucked in and everyone had a laugh. We cooked and had singsongs and got drunk and did all the things together. It wasn’t like we were locked in the house – we went out for dinner and stuff – but it was just about being together. It was that old fucking adage you know – if you want to know me come and live with me. Actors are sort-of insulated, particularly film actors, and you get treated like you’re so fragile. It’s rubbish. I come from a theatre background and so does Danny and I think that again informs how we approach things.
RT-UK: What’s next?
CM: I don’t know, actually, I’m reading a couple of scripts and trying to decide what I want to do. I did this little movie in New York in the summer called Watching the Detectives, which is a little comedy and should be coming out this year. It’s me and Lucy Liu, and I play this guy who’s like a film noir buff who works in a video store and she comes in and turns his life upside down. Hilarity ensues!
RT-UK: Is there a genre of film that you’ve not tackled yet that you’d like to?
CM: I’m very pleased that I’ve been able to jump into a couple of different genres. I’d love to do a western. I’d love to do a musical. I hate musicals, but I’d love to do a good one. But you never know, it’s all about the quality of the script.
RT-UK: Good musicals…
CM: I don’t know if there are any. I love singing, you see, and I’m a frustrated rock star so if there was any vehicle…
RT-UK: The D:Ream life story maybe, you as keyboard player extraordinaire Brian Cox?
CM: [laughs] The D:Ream Comes True! It’d be brilliant!
