By Jenny Halper in New York City

Cillian Murphy makes a gorgeous girl, but that’s not the only reason Neil Jordan’s “Breakfast on Pluto” is worth seeing. Starring as Patrick ‘Kitten’ Braden, the actor - now best known as Scarecrow in “Batman Begins”- gives a career defining performance that’s both femme fatale and offbeat action hero. Embarking on a transsexual journey to Oz (the wizard is his long lost mother), Kitty sings with flamboyant band, performs bloody tricks with a lovelorn magician (Stephen Rea) and even gets accused of an IRA bombing.

In person, Murphy is intensely private, surprisingly soft-spoken and- even more surprisingly- clad simply in jeans and an alligator tee. An outfit, I’m willing to wager, Kitten wouldn’t have approved.

Q: What was it that inspired you to take this role?

CILLIAN: I had read the book before I was an actor. I think actors talk about the role of the lifetime and I would very happily say that applied to this role. Neil Jordan is one of my favorite directors. Not just because he's Irish and I'm Irish. In the world of directors, he's one of those guys. So it was all of those things and also the fear
that I couldn't possibly do that. If you come to a character and say 'Yeah, I can do this,' then you're in trouble.

Q: Did you ask your wife for any tips?

CILLIAN: She just said, “Look at women. Women are amazing. Watch women.” So I watched women. I spent time at a transvestites club in London and hung out there. I spent a lot of time on my own just being the character.

Q: Are you amazed with what women go through to look beautiful?

CILLIAN: I have a deepening respect for women. It's a lot of pain. The plucking of the eyebrows is the worst. It gets better. The first time is hard. But I liked looking pretty. I looked like my sister and she’s a very pretty girl.

Q: Was it hard to nail Kitten’s voice?

CILLIAN: I wanted to approach it very earlier on, like Neil said to me, to treat my self like a lady. My wife was very supportive of that. Then I wanted the character to be feminine as opposed to effeminate. Because it's easy to be camp or queen. Anyone can do that. What's difficult is to play feminine.

Q: Did any men come up to you and think you were a woman?

CILLIAN: No. It’s not “The Crying Game.” Kitten is never trying to convince people that she is a she. It's just the way she is. But what you do learn from being with transvestites in London is their acerbic whit is a direct result of people shouting at you on the street. I had that all the time. You have people shouting at you all the time. That's why they're so amazing and so protective.

Q: While your working on a character, is it important to experience what they experience?

CILLIAN: If you read the character and you see that it’s just a slight adjustment to who you are, that doesn't represent a challenge to me. It's obvious that if you’re going to play a character you need to amass information about that person and about their environment or their era that they're in and use as little or as much as necessary. What we do as actors is we go through phases where you superficially learn all this information. At the moment I'm doing this space movie, so I'm obsessed with physics and space travel. I know three months down the line it's gone. Then I’ll be able to superficially say stuff about space.

Q: Did you stay in character a lot off camera?

CILLIAN: I find it quite hard talking about that whole method thing. In retrospect, I can see how a character affects me. My wife can see always how a part affects me personally because she has to live with it. But it’s not a conscious thing. I don't walk around doing that- some actors do that and that's fine. You're with the character every day. It's work bed work bed. There's not that much extra time. You are the character.

Q: How did Neil approach you for the role?

CILLIAN: He saw me in some movie, and I went to see him and I was so overwhelmed. He produced this film called “Intermission.” So I had established a relationship with him. The best roles you have to fight for. You have to really want to do it and you have to go after it.

Q: Would you have done “Batman” if someone like Christopher Nolan wasn’t directing?

CILLIAN: No, I wouldn't have done it. I wouldn't have done them if the script wasn't good. If you give a mediocre script to Chris Nolan or Neil Jordan…they're never going to make it a masterpiece unless the script is good.

Q: How did this year compare to the breakthrough of “28 Days Later”?

CILLIAN: It’s very hard to have a perception on oneself. When these movies
came out I was working so I escaped a lot of it. So you're not involved in it. “Batman” was Christian Bale's movie. I was only in that movie.

Q: I read that you auditioned for the role of Batman…

CILLIAN: Come on. Do I look like a Fucking Batman?

Q: How do you think the soundtrack reflected Kitten’s journey?

CILLIAN: Kitten becomes obsessed with the saccharine, less intellectually challenging music. There was a lot of that music made in the late 60's and early 70's. She identifies with Sugar Baby Love. Which is great because she attaches so much important to these tunes. So we listened to these songs all the time. You have to do that- it's an immersion in that time.

Q: What was your favorite?

CILLIAN: When Van Morrison came on it just knocked me. I'm reading his
biography now.

Q: How do you feel about being a part of the small, exclusive Irish artistic community?

CILLIAN: It’s amazing. These guys affected me hugely growing up. They changed
my approach to life. I’ve worked a couple of times with these guys and they've paved the way and they've all been tremendously supportive to me. Particularly Liam Neeson. He's sort of a surrogate movie dad to me.

Q: Is there a role you'd love to play?

CILLIAN: I don't think they'd ever make a movie about Chuck Baker but I'd love to play Chuck Baker. And I'd love to work with Robert Altman.

“Breakfast on Pluto” opens in limited release on November 16th.