Ralph Fiennes has heaped the praise on Cillian Murphy ahead of the actor's return to the post-apocalyptic movie franchise, '28 Years Later'.
Fiennes who co stars alongside Murphy, praised the actor who had appeared in the franchise's first film in 2002, where he played Jim, a bicycle courier who wakes up from a coma to discover that society has collapsed following the accidental release of a highly dangerous, rage-inducing virus.
Following the first two sequels, 28 Days Later (2007), and 28 Years Later (2024), the latest instalment will see Peaky Blinders star Cillian Murphy reprise his role for 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.
The latest movie, which hits cinemas today, sees Fiennes reprise his role as Kelson, a mysterious doctor who has managed to escape the virus as he works to find a cure.
Now, Fiennes, who is also known for his roles as Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter, as well as Schindler's List and Conclave, had nothing but kind words to say about Cillian Murphy in a recent interview.
"Cillian’s amazing. He is one of the great screen actors around today. I am a huge admirer and fan of his and I would love the opportunity to work with him", Fiennes said.
In this latest instalment of the franchise, we delve deeper into the mythic and ritualistic world where the infected have evolved since their initial contamination, and have started to produce a super strength breed called Alphas.
Last year's movie saw new additions to cast, with Alfie Williams starring as Spike, a teenager who escapes his island along the coast off Northern England to explore a zombie infested mainland.
This time around, Spike is drawn deeper into the cruel world of The Jimmys, an evil gang of occultists led by Jimmy, played by Jack O'Connell. Kelson at this point begins to bond with the Alpha. Samson is also played by former MMA fighter, Chi Lewis Parry.
Speaking about Spike and Sampson's relationship, Fiennes said: "At the beginning of the film, Kelson’s interest and curiosity about Samson is as a doctor and a scientist - does this man have the capacity to communicate and have empathy, any connecting communication ability with me. Samson is an infected Alpha male".
"Then we find out, yes he can communicate and on top of that, he starts to find a friendship in this besieged county that is Britain, which is still gripped by this terrible pandemic".
Fiennes added, "People are engorged with rage and suddenly across the divide, between an uninfected and an infected man, you would think there is no possibility but what is happening is thar something inside Samson’s brain is awoken and there is a bonding".
This comes as Cillian Murphy is to also star in the Peaky Blinders movie spin off, The Immortal Man, alongside fellow Irish actor Barry Keoghan. The film will be made available to Netflix on March 20. More on this here.
