Colin O’Donoghue’s 'Rite' of passage - SEE VIDEO

Move over Colin Farrell, there’s a new Irish screen hunk in town – and he’s making his big screen debut by starting at the top. Meet Colin O’Donoghue, 29, the Co. Louth-born actor who can be seen going head to head with Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins in The Rite next week. CAHIR O’DOHERTY interviews Ireland’s latest breakout star.

If you’re going to be Ireland’s next big movie star, it won’t hurt if you look like Cillian Murphy and Tom Cruise combined.

With his striking good looks and his leading man aura, Colin O’Donoghue, 29, seems certain to make a big splash this year when The Rite, the new supernatural thriller that sees him going head to head with Oscar-winner Anthony Hopkins, opens on Friday, January 28 nationwide.

But the question now is just what kind of film star is O’Donoghue going to be? Will he be the action movie type, or the romantic leading man? And will he keep his head together, or will he go that well-worn bad boy route like his namesake Colin Farrell?

“I have no idea what way things are going to pan out, or what the reaction to the movie will be,” O’Donoghue tells the Irish Voice with a laugh.

“I don’t think you can ever really plan anything. This time last year I would never have thought I’d be doing a press junket for a movie and seeing my face on a billboard all over Hollywood. What I’ve already learned from this business is that you can’t really legislate for too much, you know?”

He’s not kidding. Talent and looks certainly help, but sheer good luck is also a big factor when it comes to breaking stardom.

And O’Donoghue is lucky. How would you describe a man making his big screen debut opposite legendary Oscar-winner Anthony Hopkins, one of the most celebrated actors in the world?

Some actors would say it’s too much too fast, but the ambitious young Drogheda, Co. Louth native said yes to starring in the supernatural thriller The Rite the moment it was offered to him.

In this jump out of your seat thriller, O’Donoghue plays Father Michael Kovak, a young American priest who doesn’t believe in exorcism -- or in the priests who practice it -- until he meets Father Lucas (Hopkins) and Father Xavier (Irish star Ciaran Hinds).

Kovak arrives in Rome, one of the holiest cities on Earth, convinced that demonic possession is just mental illness that hasn’t been properly classified. The possessed don’t need exorcists, Kovak believes, they need psychological help.

But his 21st century skepticism is put to the test when he witnesses events that science and psychology can’t explain.

The thing about the Devil is that he doesn’t care if you don’t believe in him, Father Lucas tells him. Choosing not to believe in him won’t protect you.

The Rite spends the next two hours proving this point and scaring the pants off you -- and you’ll love every minute of it.

“I’ve never done the press promotional tour before so this is all new to me,” says O’Donoghue, who was talent spotted in Hollywood when he appeared in the popular Showtime drama The Tudors (also starring Ireland’s Jonathan Rhys Meyers).

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Nster.com