He's Irish, hangs out with Colin Farrell and is heading for big things... but Cillian Murphy is no bad boy. Deborah Joseph meets the up-and-coming actor with eyes you could drown in.

Having cancelled me three times in two weeks, I finally get to meet not Tom Cruise, not Brad Pitt, but 27-year-old Cillian Murphy (pronounced Kill-ian). Not heard of him? You will. That's why I've booked and cancelled two flights to Edinburgh in the hope of catching him. I've waited all week for an interview in London. Finally, five days later, I'm summonsed (sic); he's available tonight in a hotel. I do the only thing a self-respecting girl who's been stood up can do, and turn up late, determined to dislike him.
I know I'll recognize him from his eyes; huge translucent whirlpools, haunted by disease and death in 28 Days Later..., watery and stoned in his new film Intermission, and darkened by a mass of long hair in Girl With a Pearl Earring, due out in January. In contrast, his look today is grungy muso: slouchy army jacket, tight scuffed jeans and skinny legs. He assesses me suspiciously until I request a beer, at which point he visibly relaxes. I may be a journalist, I may be late, but at least I drink! And beer! I think it's going to be OK...
So come on then, I say, what's with the cat-and-mouse chase? "I'm sorry," he shrugs. "I've been so busy, I've not even had time to scratch my arse. I was doing a play at the Edinburgh Film Festival last week, then I went to the States and Dublin, and now back to London to start filming Red Light Runners tomorrow. It's with Harvey Keitel and Michael Madsen: a dream."
I guess that's what happens when your film (28 Days Later...) has just made massive waves in the U.S. Now he has another three films coming out: first off, he's staring in the crime comedy Intermission, with his friend Colin Farrell...
"I knew Colin when he was in Ballykissangel, long before he became a zillionaire," he reveals. "I rarely see him now, but we hung out then. If we went for the same part he'd call me and say we should go out on the piss—and we did. He's not competitive, because obviously he's far more successful."
So what was it like working with him on Intermission? "You have to be on form to keep up with Colin," he laughs. "It was boozy. Normally, I'd never drink while I'm working on a film, but my character probably drinks a lot, so it was all in the name of research."
Cillian plays a supermarket worker who gets embroiled in a bank robbery. Has he ever been in trouble with the law? "Only for riding a bike without due care and attention. I got put in a cell for two nights. It was horrible, but probably softened by the amount I'd had to drink," he laughs. Is that really as bad as you get? "Really. I bloody hate this image of Irishmen as bad boys. We have artistic souls—there are many writers, poets and musicians." Doesn't Colin Farrell exacerbate the bad-boy image? "But with him, it's not contrived," Cillian insists.
Cillian's research for his part as Scarlett Johansson's butcher boyfriend in the beautiful adaptation of Tracy Chevalier's best-selling novel, Girl With a Pearl Earring, was somewhat different. "I learned to carry the pigs and cut the meat in an abattoir." He screws up his face. "The smell was pretty vile. And I'm a vegetarian. I haven't seen the film yet," he admits. "But I loved the script."
Cillian's worked with some major stars now, including Natalie Portman—"breathtakingly beautiful"—and Jude Law—"a great guy"—in Cold Mountain, also due out next month. But he was most excited about meeting Jack White from The White Stripes, who's also in the film. "He was so cool. We had a long, long chat about music. I was so in awe."
Cillian grew up in Cork with music in his family. While many of his contemporaries were playing rugby and being typical lads, he spent his childhood singing around the piano with his parents and siblings, and singing and playing guitar in a band with his brother.
Cillian's reported to have a girlfriend, but refuses to discuss it. He will reveal, however, that he prefers dark women to blondes. "I like kooky, intelligent women with something interesting about them. Maggie Gyllenhaal is cute. She's a brilliant actress and is not your standard beauty. I've never met her, but thought she was incredible in Secretary."
What he can't understand is the relationship between two of the world's most famous brunettes, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher. "You'd imagine Ashton-whatever-his-name-is has the pick of the bunch. Good-looking bloke, famous—and he picks Demi Moore. I like older women, too, but she's just not my type," he smiles.
It's raining when we finish our chat and a power cut has brought London to standstill, so Cillian offers me a lift. In the car he confesses he met Westlife on a plane and, as boybands aren't his thing, was incensed when they tried to talk to him. He says he once studied to be a lawyer, but pleads for us not to name this article Murphy's Law. He may not be Brad Pitt, but Cillian Murphy is bloody funny and has amazing eyes and he's certainly redeemed himself in mine.