Next week, Cillian Murphy can be seen in Ken Loach’s The Wind That Shakes the Barley, the story of the Irish War of Independence which won the Palm D’Or at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. The Irish actor has come a long way since starring in Danny Boyle’s 2002 horror-thriller 28 Days Later but recently, Murphy reunited with Boyle to star in his upcoming space drama Sunshine, which won’t open here until September.
Murphy told ComingSoon.net how the experience was different than when he made 28 Days Later with the filmmaker. “I was a young actor when I did ’28 Days Later’ and I’d never worked with an established director really,” he said. “It was a watershed movie for me because it was the first movie of mine that people actually went to see. It opened doors, that’s a given. I think I learned a great deal off Danny making that film, then I went away and worked on different parts and different directors and roles, and I hope I came back a moderately better actor and was a bit more mature and more confident and was able to bring that to the table with Danny. Danny went away and made Millions’ so it’s nice to work with him again because there’s a shorthand, and fundamentally a trust. Danny demands a lot from his actors. He wants them to go that final percent. I think he knows he can get that from me and I’m willing to go there for him. It was nice to go back with a proper budget as well, because ’28 Days Later’ was done very cheaply.”
“It’s pretty effects-heavy,” Murphy admitted when asked about the nature of the film vs. 28 Days Later. “Effects were never the primary concern obviously. It’s a thriller but to fly towards the sun on a spaceship, you have to do a lot of CGI for that. But it never became obtrusive when we were shooting it. ”
And for those still wondering whether Murphy might return as Dr, Jonathan Crane AKA The Scarecorew in Christopher Nolan’s Batman sequel The Dark Knight, the actor still is hesitant to talk about it. “I’m not at liberty and it’s not my place to say,” he repeated from other recent interviews. “I’d love to work with Chris again. I enjoyed tremendously working on that film, and we’ll see. I think casting Heath Ledger as the Joker is fantastic casting. He’ll make an amazing movie.” ComingSoon.net suggests that both the new Joker and Aaron Eckhart’s Two-Face might need the type of psychiatric help that only a trained mad doctor like Dr. Crane could give.
We’ll have more with Murphy and director Ken Loach on their new movie The Wind That Shakes the Barley before it opens on Friday, March 16. Sunshine is scheduled for release on September 14 and The Dark Knight is scheduled for July 18, 2008.
