Shining star sets big screen alight

12:42pm Tuesday 10th April 2007

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Sci-fi thriller, Sunshine starring Cillian Murphy is burning a hole in box office sales. Eileen Condon talks to the actor about the hot role.

In the futuristic thriller Sunshine, set in 2057, directed by Trainspotting's Danny Boyle, Cillian Murphy stars as a physicist who sets off into space on a perilous mission to re-ignite the dying sun and prevent the extinction of mankind.

The irony is not lost on 31-year-old Cillian, who confesses he "bailed out of maths and science" at school.

"I really had to try hard to play this physicist," he said.

"Considering I dropped all the sciences at school, it was a bit of a challenge, to say the least."

Yet, despite not knowing the first thing about physics, Cillian threw himself into the part by spending time in Geneva with a group of scientists investigating the big bang.

"It was so interesting getting into the mindset of these guys who have extraordinary intellect," he said.

"Don't get me wrong, we had fun with them, but they are aware of the serious business of their job, which is basically to discover the meaning of life through science.

"It's just mind-blowing."

Not that the role has tempted him to cross the final frontier.

"The space suits weren't comfortable," he said.

"There was also this thing called helmet-cam which we had to wear and was one of Danny's wonderful creations. It was physically tough because the helmet and camera combined to weigh a tonne, but those scenes look believable because we were genuinely sweating and out of breath."

Cillian says he was mainly drawn to the role because he was keen to reunite with director Boyle and writer Alex Garland who he'd last worked with on zombie movie 28 Days Later.

He said: "Alex's screenplay was key. The script was riveting from start to finish, intelligent and well written.

"Alex's writing fills a script with loads of sub-layers about modern day issues and he has managed to make it within the guise of a very clever, very intelligent, genre piece, and Danny's just one of the best directors working today."

Since making the 2002 film 28 Days Later, Cillian has immersed himself in roles as diverse as the psycho terrorist in Wes Craven's Red Eye, a passionate IRA freedom fighter in Ken Loach's The Wind That Shook the Barley, last year's off beat role as a daydreaming transvestite in Breakfast On Pluto and the Scarecrow in Batman Begins.

Cillian added: "I just have to believe in a project first and foremost. I always start with the script and a good director and find you can't go wrong."

Sunshine (15) is showing in cinemas nationwide now.