Автор: Damon Smith
 
An onscreen gender-bending supervillain talks about life en route to the top: meet Cillian Murphy.
Dazzling blue eyes. That's the first thing you notice about Cillian Murphy, the handsome Irish actor, who first came to our attention in Danny Boyle's zombie holocaust thriller 28 Days Later...: two pools of impossibly clear blue, and cheekbones to die for. His eyes may have lot a little of their sparkle this evening, but it's late and Murphy has spent a long and gruelling day on the set of the sci-fi drama Sunshine.
It's a far cry from the bell-bottomed, psychedelic world of his latest film, Breakfast on Pluto, in which he plays a sensitive young man in late 1960s Ireland who transforms himself into the beautiful and androgynous Kitten and invents a Saint Kitten as part of his gender-bending mythology. Murphy delivers a breathtaking virtuoso performance, ripe for an Oscar nomination, which would propel his star even further into the ascendance. "When there is a momentum you have to go with it," he concedes, "you'd be silly not to. I really hope that people enjoy the film. I put my heart and soul into it."
It's been an amazing 12 months for you, with Batman Begins in the summer and Red Eye a few months later. Have you had any time to catch your breath?
It's been pretty much work, work, work. But that's been great because it's protected me from all of the craziness particularly surrounding Batman.
Can you avoid the hoopla that goes with a film like that?
I did manage to avoid it. I was down in West Cork on the side of a mountain, shooting a film. I flew into London for the Batman premiere, walked the red carpet and came home. I didn't even see the movie. Anyway, that film wasn't about me, it was about Christian Bale, Morgan Freeman, and Michael Caine.
You were part of it though.
C'mon, it was about the Bat!
Yes, but you did get to try on the batsuit!
Okay, yeah. I did a screen test for Batman and then Chris Nolan asked me to read for another character, the Scarecrow. Anyway, the batsuit was too big.
So you went from the Bat to the Kitten. Were you daunted by the prospect of playing such a larger-than life character?
Transformative roles excite me. People say, "How do you relate to the character?" As an actor, I don't think you have to identify with a character. Sometimes, to go into a world, to prepare yourself for the role and to learn, is much more exciting.
So how did you prepare for the part?
I went out and spent time with transvestites in London, went to all of the clubs. It was not like anything I had experienced before. They were such wonderful people—very protective. You realise why they have such a quick, acerbic wit, because they get shouted at all the time on the street.
It's a brilliant transformation.
Thank you. There's a long history in movies of men dressing up as women with varying degrees of success. The thing that I wanted to avoid was for Kitten to be like a drag queen. Her character is not an affectation or a contrivance, it's just the way she is. She's feminine as opposed to effeminate.
You also manage to retain Kitten's sweetness and innocence.
What's so interesting about her is that she's so fundamentally good. All she really wants is to look pretty, and to love and be loved; for life to be simple.
And to wear lots of make up, perm her hair so she looks like Marc Bolan...
I loved all that. We're actors, that's what we do. Again, it's that transformative thing, taking yourself away from yourself. And, of course, everybody loves looking pretty!
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