Hollywood golden boy Cillian Murphy talks about 'Inception'

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CAHIR O'DOHERTY,

Irish Voice Reporter

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Leonardo DiCaprio (left) and Cillian Murphy in 'Inception'

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In Inception, the hotly anticipated new thriller opening this week, Irish actor Cillian Murphy plays the kidnapped son of a tycoon who has to confront his darkest fears. CAHIR O’DOHERTY talks to Murphy about working with Hollywood’s golden boys, actor Leonardo DiCaprio and director Christopher Nolan.
 
Cillian Murphy is arguably the most consistently impressive screen actor that Ireland has produced. He’d deny it if you said so (he’s from Cork after all), but in a career that sees him alternating between low budget independent hits and multimillion dollar blockbusters, he has yet to put a foot wrong. 

From the beginning Murphy, 34, has been notoriously protective of his private life and hasn’t gone in for the usual trappings of celebrity -- booze and all the epic benders that burn up Internet gossip sites. He’s never challenged anyone to a duel, or got drunk at the airport, or dropped a sex tape before the startled public’s gaze. As Hollywood celebrities go, he’s unusually low-key, and that’s how he wants to keep it.

“I’m just not very good at it really, and I never have been,” Murphy, who hails from Douglas, Co. Cork, tells the Irish Voice during a recent interview.

He mentions no names, but its no secret that some of his famous friends like Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Colin Farrell must envy his self-control.

“Some people are just naturally good at that stuff (being stars). I’m not,” he says.

“For me the publicity should always be the work and you can just judge me on that. That’s the way I try and keep it, purely because I’d be rubbish at it otherwise.”

This week Murphy stars in Inception, the most anticipated big budget thriller of the summer directed by Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins, The Prestige, The Dark Knight). This time Murphy (who has appeared in several of Nolan’s films) shares screen time with actors like Leonardo DiCaprio and Michael Caine and once again he does what he’s paid to do -- provide the most captivating portrait in the film.

Controversially not many film critics have seen Inception yet, in an unusual attempt by Warner Brothers to shroud the story line in secrecy right up to the opening date. This has led to a lot of online grousing. It must really stink, assumed the critics, if they’re being that paranoid. 

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