During pre-production on that film, you put the actors through a boot camp, making them live together for a while to get used to their characters’ situation. Since Murphy plays the protagonist, did he take a leadership role during that boot camp?
He would never assume leadership—he would just be part of [the group]. He leads movies, but he’s not someone who takes on the kind of front role.
I obviously didn’t live with them—they lived together, and I think one or two of them were a bit surprised that they were going to literally be living together for a couple of weeks. But music was a big help. The other thing about him is his music—he hosts shows on the BBC, on Radio 6. His musical taste is wonderful.
What kind of music is he into?
Eclectic high quality. I think that’s one of the things he liked about us working together, because I’m really music-driven as well. He’s got an inexhaustible appetite for music. His show that he did during lockdown [“Songs From Under the Stairs”], he locks himself away, and that’s his quiet place.
When you two reunited for “Sunshine,” did you notice that his acting approach changed from film to film?
There was no research on the first film because it was [about] an apocalypse, but the second one, he was very diligent. He struck up a really good friendship with this scientist, Brian Cox. Weirdly, he sort of looks like Cillian. [Laughs] And he went to CERN, which is where they fire the atoms around a huge circular particle accelerator. He spent a lot of time [researching], and then he trusts his intuition.
I can imagine he did that on “Oppenheimer”—he trusts the scene and the interaction with the other actors. I don’t remember ever struggling with [him], like you can with some actors and some parts. When trying to get to grips with [a role], he preps and then he gives the absolute impression of having done no prep at all—he’s ready to go.
We got on really well, and we’re hoping to get it together again on the sequel that we’re doing to “28 Days Later,” this “28 Years Later.” It’s not a deal done yet, but hopefully we’ll be able to get back together on that—if he’ll ever speak to me again. [Laughs]