Автор: Lynn Barker

We first noticed this handsome Irish newcomer as Jim, the troubled survivor of the post-apocalyptic thriller 28 Days Later..., and he can still be seen as the creepy villain Scarecrow/Dr. Jonathan Crane in the blockbuster Batman Begins. The first thing you notice about Cillian (pronounced Killian) Murphy, are those incredible, intense light blue eyes. Although he has played his share of good guys on screen and stage, Murphy has hit pay dirt playing charming dudes who are hiding some kind of dark secret. Don't dive too deep into those baby blue pools, girls, or you might be sorry!

In the Wes Craven thriller Red Eye, Cillian gets to show "It" girl Rachel McAdams that joining the Mile High Club might not be all it is cracked up to be. In person, Cillian speaks in a thick Irish brogue (which he totally ditches for a spot on American accent in Red Eye). Murphy lives in London, was away on holiday during the recent bombings, and has no plan to move to Hollywood.

Sitting down to chat with us, the young actor likes to lean back in his chair and fidget a bit. Relaxed in white tee, dark blue pin-stripe suit jacket, black boots, and jeans, Cillian pulls no punches. He doesn't play the Hollywood game. He has a publicist but doesn't drag him (or her) around to his interviews. Doesn't need to. He says what he means and refuses to answer things he thinks are none of your business but he's very sweet. We found him really charming and got plenty of info on what makes this hottie tick and what he's up to next. Check it out…

TeenHollywood: Did it concern you that you were doing two villainous roles in a row?

Cillian: Look, that's distribution which I have no control over. If people decide to put these movies out that way, that's fine. I made like ten feature films and played the bad guy in two of them. I think they're both very different and I think that audiences aren't myopic enough to just see one person. They understand that this is an actor who will go on to play other parts in other films. Having said that, I will concede that I've probably done my quota now of bad guys. They were just really interesting parts and characters for me and I had a great time doing them. I don't strategize. I don't have a career plan and I'm not ticking boxes so I don't have any problem with it.

TeenHollywood: Was it the character or working with horror director Wes Craven that attracted you to this film?

Cillian: It was the script. It always has to start with the script no matter who the director is. If it’s a s**t script, they can only make it mediocre no matter how good they are. I found it very compelling. I found the premise quite strong. You read a good thing you're like "how are they going to write this any better than this?" After that, it's the team involved in making it.

TeenHollywood: Was this the first time you flew to meet a director? Didn't you fly to meet Wes Craven a couple of days before your wedding and then fly back? That must have shown the interest that you had in his project.

Cillian: Well it did, I hope. But I got married a few months later. I didn't leave my bride (Yvonne McGuinness) waiting at the altar. But what was curious about the circumstances of that was that we met at that revolving restaurant at LAX for like 40 minutes, then I flew out again, just due to the time table. But it was quite apt given the nature of the film.

TeenHollywood: This is a two-person film for a long time. Did you and Rachel [McAdams] meet a lot to rehearse or just go for it on the day?

Cillian: We met before in rehearsal and over dinner and chatted and hung out and she's so cool, just the sweetest girl and so normal. I hope that I would be the same. But, the difference is that she's a brilliant actor, so intelligent in her choices and her performance. It was important, I guess, that we got on. You can't create chemistry. That was just a bonus.

TeenHollywood: You and Rachel have to hurt each other quite a lot through the film. How did you work that out?

Cillian: Well, I found that very difficult actually, especially that scene in the bathroom. I found that quite hard to do, quite unpleasant to do, and unpleasant to watch. What you have to do is you have to trust each other and, luckily, we did. We got on very well. You have to rehearse and rehearse for the physical stuff.

TeenHollywood: You don't seem to have a publicist or handler here in the interview room with you. Do you try to not to get those celebrity trappings?

Cillian: I have a publicist but a handler is for animals, isn't it? I'm pretty relaxed about it. I'll talk quite happily about movies until the cows come home. I'm not so comfortable talking about myself. If people ask me a question I don't like, I just won't answer it.

TeenHollywood: That's fair. Why did you decide to go into acting? Whoops, that's personal.

Cillian: That's okay. I didn't act until I was about twenty. I was playing in bands and wanted to be a musician. Then, I foolishly was attempting a degree in Law and I abandoned that quite quickly. I was always into movies and I saw a play in Cork. They did A Clockwork Orange in a night club and it was completely cool and sexy and brilliant and I knocked on the door of the theater company and asked for an audition. They gave me a part in a play called Disco Pigs and they made that into a movie and then I continued after that.

TeenHollywood: Has life changed for you after Batman Begins? Do people recognize you that probably wouldn't have recognized you before?

Cillian: I suppose, there is obviously a level of recognition. I tend to judge it by how many people can pronounce my name correctly. I live in London and you never, ever get people coming up to you. Back home in Cork or in Ireland, yeah. But, everyone is really sweet. It's never in any way antagonistic. It's never intrusive in any way. People are generally very nice. I don't find it a problem. My life hasn't changed significantly at all.

TeenHollywood: You did a really great American accent in Red Eye. How hard it that for you?

Cillian: Well, that's what we do as actors. We're supposed to do those things. Living here in the environment was helpful obviously because, by osmosis you can hear people speak all the time. But, I've always said, I'm an actor who is Irish, not an Irish actor. You shouldn't be inhibited by your extraction to the roles you can play. And, because of the fact that Hollywood is considered the engine of movie making arts or the biggest factory in the world for it, you need to come to Hollywood to make movies. If you're going to work in the Hollywood system, you're going to have to do an American accent.

TeenHollywood: It's interesting that your character has no exposition. You establish who he is by your actions. Did you prepare a backstory?

Cillian: You have to have all the backstory there for yourself just so that when you make character decisions or you make choices they are backed up by something. It's all for me because none of it is on the screen. Yeah, you have to do all that stuff. The most fundamental thing is getting inside the man's mind, how it works and, from there on, you can do everything else.

TeenHollywood: Was it trickier for you doing the close up scenes where you and Rachel are in the plane seats together and it depends on your dialogue and your facial expressions or the action scenes?

Cillian: The action scenes were fun. That's just fun. It was good that they came after all that because we were in that plane for like six weeks. But, they're the meat of it and that's why I was interested in the role because of the big, meaty dialogue scenes.

TeenHollywood: You are playing a guy named Jackson Ripner (sic). When you read it did just the name kind of sum up the character for you?

Cillian: I like that in a movie, that kind of cross-referencing. I think that's part of what that is. I don't think the guy is a serial killer. It's an interesting writer's thing. I thought it was clever.

TeenHollywood: Were you aware of Wes Craven's filmography because at the end of the film you are holding a knife and you're in a house and it's now similar to the climax of the Nightmare movies and Scream. Did you get a kick out of being the guy holding the knife in a Wes Craven movie?

Cillian: [laughs] Well, that's what he knows and that's his territory. I knew the Freddy movies as a kid and the Scream movies I'd seen but I thought this was a departure for him. The stuff in the house, you've got to do that because it's a thriller. But I think the stuff on the plane was the main attraction. And the way he directs that.

TeenHollywood: Are you a white knuckle flier or a completely comfortable flier?

Cillian: Thank God, I've never had a bad experience flying so I'm quite relaxed about it, yeah. Sitting next to boring people is the worst thing.

TeenHollywood: Are you a window or aisle seat person?

Cillian: Always the aisle.

TeenHollywood: Get me out of here!

Cillian: Yeah.

TeenHollywood: Is it hard to keep the intensity low because you are in a plane seat in a public place? You have to act normal but also be intense?

Cillian: I suppose it's just acting really but that's the challenge of it. I suppose it's just an efficiency of movement, an efficiency of space and stuff like that. This guy has never done this thing on a plane. I'm sure he's had missions like this in different environments. But the point is, this wasn't supposed to happen on a plane. Circumstances determined that this had to happen on a plane so he has to modify his operational skills to that environment. How we did it, I don't know. We just acted it. TeenHollywood: You never really know who the big bad guys are. Was it always ambiguous or at one time, was it going to be a middle eastern (sic) organization or what?

Cillian: Again, I thought it was much more interesting that it was not confirmed who they were because it's not a political film. It's not about terrorism. It's about two characters on a plane, a battle of wills between these two characters. If you start going down that path, you open it up to way bigger characters and that wasn't what it was about. It's about people under pressure. People under severe pressure and how they react to it. That's what I loved. That's where you get more drama. The potential of drama is greater when you get people under pressure in extreme situations.

TeenHollywood: How to you react to pressure situations yourself?

Cillian: I tend to be fine except inanimate objects tend to set me off when they don't work. But, I'm pretty good with people I think. [laughter]

TeenHollywood: You've done leading roles like 28 Days Later... Do you feel the weight more when you are the lead versus a supporting role?

Cillian: I don't think about it, I suppose, like that really. I just think about the role. Will that be interesting for you to do? Can you do it? Every time you're like "I don't know if I can do this." It doesn't necessarily have to be a leading role for it to offer that challenge.

TeenHollywood: Are you doing any more writing?

Cillian: I did a short movie with a friend of mine. I’ll leave that to the writers. I think they are a very undervalued community especially in Hollywood. [We knew we liked this guy]] I just want to improve as an actor, learn as an actor, and hone my craft. I've never trained or anything so I've been learning at theater and at film. Each performance you want it to be better than the last one. You don't want it to ever be your best because that would mean that you've stopped. You want to keep on keepin' on.

TeenHollywood: You once played in a band. What kind of music are you into?

Cillian: I listen to a lot of music. There is this band called The Books, they're American actually and I like Wilco a lot and I'm into a lot of jazz. Miles Davis.

TeenHollywood: Would you do another Batman movie?

Cillian: I haven't been approached. I'd love to but again, I'd have to look at the script but [director] Christopher Nolan was the reason I wanted to do that film and I'd love to have the opportunity to work with him again.

TeenHollywood: That was such an interesting role too.

Cillian: Yeah, it was great.

TeenHollywood: Are you doing anything right now?

Cillian: Yeah. I’m rehearsing a movie with Danny Boyle [Trainspotting] called Sunshine [about a team of astronauts set out on a mission to re-ignite a part of the dying sun].

TeenHollywood: Is there a movie you saw that changed your life or made you want to become an actor?

Cillian: There was actually. When I was sixteen, it was Halloween and we wanted to rent a scary movie, myself and my brother, and the guy gave us the wrong movie and it was kind of ironic but it was Scarecrow. It was Gene Hackman and Al Pacino. We watched it, didn't know what it was going to be and put it on and it profoundly effected me. Al Pacino's performance...that scene at the fountain at the end when he has the breakdown was just…I didn't realize that films could do that to you. That's a weird one I suppose because it's not up there with the classics. Nobody really talks about it. I really think it's a lost classic. Beautifully directed. And I didn't do acting then until I was about twenty but it stayed with me and I started watching loads and loads of films.

TeenHollywood: Does it dawn on you that now you're on the other side of the camera and you might be affecting another movie fan?

Cillian: You think about that every day. If I can just leave one film behind that effects (sic) somebody…that can be my legacy, just one that people admire, then I'm quite happy. I'm fine.