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Were you good at science in school?

I was good academically, but languages are what I enjoyed. I couldn't do math or physics or any of the sciences. I dropped them all very quickly.

I liked biology.

Did you? I couldn't do biology. Isn't there a left side and a right side of the brain or something?

Some people have both.

Yeah, and they're good at sports, too?

So not being much for science, what attracted you to the role?

I think what Alex Garland does as a writer is manages within genre pieces — for example, in 28 Days Later and with Sunshine — to make a really compelling, engaging movie that also does have something to say. 28 Days Later was very prescient at the time. We shot it, like, in September 2001, and then we watched the Twin Towers come down when we were shooting, and then SARS happened. Also, there was the whole rage thing, which is, I think, a modern condition now. Everyone's fucking raging against everything — you know, car rage and phone rage and fucking plane rage. But it's a good old zombie movie also.

Was there a lot of greenscreen involved in Sunshine?

No, actually, there was not that much. Most of the stuff was actually tangibly there. So I never had to act with a dot, which is brilliant. It's so hard to impress with effects now, you know.

Do you impress with stunts instead?

Yeah, there were wires and stuff. And that [space] suit was pretty challenging. They did this thing called a helmet cam, where Danny had a camera in the helmet. But, in effect, it was this ginormous rig that you have to carry around on your back. But he would operate it from far away.

Breakfast on Pluto

So the audience can see through the helmet?

Yeah, but you're seeing my face also. It's a brilliant device, but it was very physically challenging to wear.

How do you choose your roles? You have a remarkable filmography — 28 Days Later, Batman Begins, Red Eye, and Breakfast on Pluto to name just a few.

My aspiration has always been to not have a film on my filmography that I don't want to talk about or that I'm not passionate about as a project. And so far I think I've achieved that. Obviously, I'm giving myself a total get-out clause that I can do shit down the line if I need to. But right at the moment, I want to pick very carefully

What kinds of projects tend to appeal to you?

Well, it will always start with the script. Always. I suppose it's trying to challenge myself and trying not to repeat myself. And then there's the combination of the director. They would be the main principles that I would use.