Too much of an actor to be described as a "star" Cillian Murphy is among Ireland's foremost performers. Brian O'Connell caught up with him between shooting Christopher Nolan's Batman: Intimidation and rehearsing a new Druid production of The Playboy of the Western World.

Anyone acquainted with Cillian Murphy knew the Corkonian was never destined to become a lawyer. In a world of instant celebrity and media hunger, Murphy found himself topping the "next big thing" lists used by editors to fill their pages while their staff were on holidays. Headings like, "Hunting Colin Farrell's crown", and "Farrell without the jar" give the impression that young Irish actors were the stuff of fiction until Mr. Farrell stepped out. But Murphy, now nearly thirty, has been plying his trade on stage and screen impressively since the mid 90s, cleverly avoiding the pitfalls of overexposure and extended runs in "soapland."

Murphy first came to attention in Disco Pigs, the frenetic two-hander by Enda Walsh. The play opened in an eighty-seater theatre on Tobin St. in Cork and subsequently toured the world. Saved from his law degree by the play's director Pat Kiernan, it seems that Hollywood has finally sat up and taken notice of the Douglas native. He has recently been featured in high-profile successes from both sides of the Atlantic; Girl With a Pearl Earring and Cold Mountain. Much of this is due to Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later...; the surprise success of this film in the States last year alerted both audiences and directors alike to Murphy's considerable talent.

Instead then of being holed up in a glitzy joint in L.A. with a Britney look-alike in tow, it's refreshing to learn that Murphy is currently in Galway, continuing his love affair with theatre in Druid's upcoming production of The Playboy of the Western World.

So Galway over L.A. then? Well, I'd always wanted to do The Playboy; anyone who's read it knows it's a brilliant text, near perfect almost. The quality of the work, and the fact that Garry Hynes, who I would regard as the best director around, made it an easy decision really.

It's obviously been a conscious decision on your part to continue your stage work. Has it become more difficult in recent times to take time out from an increasingly hectic film career? Well the fact that I had continued a stage career has got to do with having started out in theatre. It's something I need to do to help refine and hopefully improve my technique. Taking time out from film projects is basically something you decide to do for yourself. I read more film than theatre scripts sure and because you appear in a few films, people start to think that you don't want to do theatre any more, so you get sent less and less theatre scripts. But with someone like Garry Hynes for example, she is aware of my feelings for the stage, and my agent is also well aware of my desire to do stage work, so I think you can determine what type of career you want yourself.

Has the success of 28 Days Later changed how you choose work? I suppose the success of 28 Days Later... did open up more opportunities for me. Once a movie makes money it seems the U.S. in particular suddenly got interested. Magazines want to put you in their publications and claim they "discovered you" when in reality you have been working your arse off for years. It hasn't changed that much though, as an actor you still have to chase the good stuff.

Were you surprised in any way by the reaction to Intermission in Ireland? No, not really. Working on Intermission was the best fun I ever had on a set. Cast, crew—everybody; they were a great bunch of people. The director John Crowley is a really special director and I have no doubt he will go on to make some great films. I have just been to see his latest directing work, the Martin McDonagh play The Pillowman, in London and it was incredible. Really incredible.

After Intermission, you played parts in both Girl With a Pearl Earring and Cold Mountain, how did those roles come about? As regards Girl With a Pearl Earring, I had finished Intermission and wanted to do something completely different. When I read the script and my part in it, which was a 14th/15th Century butcher, I just thought it was as far away I could get from playing a Dubliner, so that decided it for me really. It wasn't a very challenging role to be honest, it's very one-dimensional, but I wanted to do something that wasn't the lead part and not very stressful. With Cold Mountain, I actually auditioned initially for a bigger part in this, the part of the albino, which I didn't get. Afterwards Anthony Minghella asked if I would be interested in doing a smaller role, on the basis that he was the director I couldn't refuse really. It's not often you get to work with someone of that caliber. He's really calm on the set and extremely intelligent, great to work with.

Next up for you is a role in the new Batman movie, does that mean a move to L.A.? Yeah, after the Playboy finishes I begin shooting on Chris Nolan's new Batman film [Batman: Intimidation (sic)]. I am playing one of two villains, which is a nice contrast from a play set in the West of Ireland at the turn of the century. Some people asked me why I went for it—I mean it's Batman for fuck's sake—it's not a difficult decision! I don't imagine ever moving to L.A., too false, but I could certainly see myself living in New York for a spell, just for a change of scenery. I've been living in London for three years now so maybe it's time for a change.

When Batman finishes, can we expect to see you back on stage or screen? After Batman I haven't decided really. I am reading a couple of scripts at the moment. I'd like to do a small independent movie, but some of them aren't fully financed yet so I can't elaborate at the moment. I'd also like to do something during Cork's tenure as Capital of Culture in 2005, perhaps with Corcadorca—I'd love to work with Pat Kiernan again.

What changes have you noticed in the Irish Film industry over the past decade? Do you think Irish actors have more opportunities in Ireland nowadays? The Irish film scene—I'm not much of an authority on the subject really. I made a few films a few years back but that's about it. I don't think though that a person's extraction should limit them to what roles they accept or where they should live. The idea of playing a British or American person excites me personally as I have no cultural reference points. I used to get pissed off seeing the same Irish actors in Irish films over the years, so I guess I've made a conscious decision to avoid that. For me diversity is really important.