The Wind The Shakes The Barley, Ken Loach's film about the struggle for Irish independence, won top prize at Cannes this year. It attracted a bit of controversy, as some critics claimed it was too sympathetic to the IRA. Whatever you make of its content one fact is inescapable—Cillian Murphy, the actor at the heart of the film, gives a spectacular performance as Damien, a young doctor who abandons his career as a doctor to fight for the cause in the 1920's. When we were in Cannes he sat down to talk to us.

The political violence in this film is the backdrop to the story of the relationship between Damien and his brother, and how they eventually embrace different political ideologies. Murphy comes from Cork in Ireland where Ken Loach shot the film.

Tom Brook: "Do you feel a connection with this material because of your Irish background?"

Cillian Murphy: "Yes, inevitably. I am from Cork, where the film is set. We are taught the history in school, quite superficially, but we are taught. The violence touched my family. It's two generations ago; it is really not that long ago if you think of it that way. So yeah, it is important to us.

"The way Ken works is if you are shooting a movie in Cork, if you are shooting a movie in Glasgow, it would only be people from that area he'll hire, which again would just add to the authenticity of the piece. People talk in accents. I guess it is in your DNA, that area, and I knew all the areas around, so it must help in some way."

Tom Brook: "How much do you try to find out about a director before you begin working on a film?"

Cillian Murphy: "With Ken, I have seen, not all of his movies, but quite a few of them. I was a big fan. I was aware of his method of making films, was aware it is quite unique. If you are talking about directors in general, I would go and try to look at their body of work. But with the big ones, it is fine."

Tom Brook: "This is a period film, but the relationship between Britain and Ireland is still very volatile. People watching this film could actually say it advances the cause of Irish republicanism and the British are depicted as uniformly evil. Can you understand why people might have that view?"

Cillian Murphy: "I suppose so, and they are entitled to that view. I don't agree with it because I think what the film is doing is highlighting the failings of the British administration at that time, not the British nation."

Tom Brook: "This is a period film, but the relationship between Britain and Ireland is still very volatile. People watching this film could actually say it advances the cause of Irish republicanism and the British are depicted as uniformly evil. Can you understand why people might have that view?"

Cillian Murphy: "I suppose so, and they are entitled to that view. I don't agree with it because I think what the film is doing is highlighting the failings of the British administration at that time, not the British nation."

Tom Brook: "People often refer to you as 'up and coming actor Cillian Murphy.' Do you have that view of yourself?" Cillian Murphy: "I've been up and coming for ten years, so I might as well stick at it. I just want to challenge myself to do different roles. I had a great year last year working with some brilliant directors. I hopefully learned from them. All I want to do is to improve, really, try and make films that are challenging in some way, interesting."

Tom Brook: "A lot of actors say Hollywood is crass and commercial."

Cillian Murphy: "I don't live in America, I live in London. For all the trashy movies Hollywood produces every year, it also produces many magnificent ones. For all the magnificent movies the independent sector produces it also produces a huge amount of trashy ones. So for me it is the story and the part and the director. The system, whether it is studio system or independent system, is irrelevant. If you are strong about your choices, you are not going to be eaten up by any system."

Tom Brook: "Most Hollywood studios often spend more on promoting a film than actually making it. What's your view on that?"

Cillian Murphy: "Well, it is great if the film is worth promoting, isn't it? It is not so great if it is not. It is commerce. Cinema is an uneasy mixture of commerce and art."

Tom Brook: "But isn't it rather frustrating to live in this world of hype? Take The Da Vince (sic) Code for example, the hype for it has been fantastic, it's been going on for at least a year, and then the film doesn't get very good reviews."

Cillian Murphy: "I haven't seen the film or read the book. If it goes out and makes a lot of money, that is what they want to do. If it gets a big opening weekend that is fair enough. That is the nature of the business. If you invest that much money into a picture, you want to get this much money back. It is commerce."

Tom Brook: "This is a leading question, but isn't it better to let what you might do in the film speak for itself rather than bringing in a huge studio marketing machine to hype something?"

Cillian Murphy: "Yes, in an ideal world, it'd be great if movies just exploded through word of mouth and that does happen every year. One or two sort of just take off through word of mouth. Again, if it is a movie I believe in, it is a movie I am very proud of, all I want is for a lot of people in the cinema every night. If marketing can help that, if it is accurate marketing, tasteful marketing, I am OK with it."