International Playboy

Too much of an actor to be described as a 'star', Cillian Murphy is among Ireland's foremost performers. Brian O'Connell caught up for 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 LA 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.

The full article is printed in Film Ireland 97