Can you talk a bit about who you play in Transcendence?

Clifton Collins Jr.: I can't really say too much about it, because it's pretty secretive, but I play this character named Martin, who works, basically, for Johnny Depp and Rebecca Hall. I take care of some situations for them. You've got Johnny Depp, you've got Rebecca Hall, you've got Morgan Freeman, Paul Bettany, Cillian Murphy, Cole Hauser. It's a pretty fantastic cast, and I'm really stoked just to be in their company.

How long will you be down there shooting that for?

Clifton Collins Jr.: I'm almost done here. I've got another week, and then I'm pretty much wrapped. I'm going to take a week and do some pick-up shots for a new video I'm putting together in Taos up at Dennis Hopper's.

Yeah, it is pretty mum, but it’s also pretty fantastic and pretty amazing, I gotta tell you. Working with Wally has been a lot of fun too. Whenever there’s time, he takes a peek at the camera while he’s directing, and I gotta say man, it totally is, it’s kind of pornoish! It’s awesome. I love it when he picks up the camera, I feel like I’m walking into a strip club with a pocket full of per diem. He’s such a badass with the camera. It’s like, shut up, listen watch, and learn!

And they’ve got a great cast. We have legends like Morgan Freeman, and then we’ve got Paul Bettany, Cillian Murphy, Rebecca Hall, Cole Hauser…it’s just a really fine cast, and we all get along famously as well. The shoot here is a little different, though, not like on ‘Pacific Rim’ where we’re all doing things together and stuff. We only get to see each other for two hours, but as soon as we do we’re all over each other. We had a fun off-the-cuff weekend not that long ago, we all got together and sang songs, and played guitars, and had some delicious food and told stories. Stuff like that.

It’s been a great time. Paul put it best when he said, “it’s never going to be like this again”, but I was like, “we’ll do it again next weekend”. [laughs]

bapi wrote:Djawadi is awful, Mansell would be great.

What other projects are you working on now?

I just wrapped Wally Pfister's, “Transcendence” and I’m starting a movie with Ron Howard called, “In the Heart of the Sea.” I also did a British TV show coming out soon called, “Peaky Blinders.”

CS: You've been keeping pretty busy this past year so are you still shooting "Transcendence"? I'm really curious about that movie because I met Ray Kurzweil and I'm interested in the idea of the Singularity. It's pretty heavy stuff.
Murphy: Yeah, I just wrapped that movie last night, actually, and yeah, I made my fifth movie with Wally Pfister but the first time as a director, and he's just graduated beautifully from DP to director. He's a natural. I think it's a lovely script and a very interesting topic, so hopefully people will enjoy it when it comes out.

CS: Which concepts are easier to understand—the stuff that happens in "Inception" or the stuff with the Singularity incorporating machines with humans? Is this on a similar type level or is it a much smaller movie?
Murphy: No, I think it's different. It's a different scene completely. I mean, with "Inception," it's just about dreams and this is more about machines having senses and AI and they're different movies, but they're both big movies, and that idea is what relates one to the other, but you know what I like about it? They're not franchise movies. They're not remakes. They're both standalone original films, and in this climate, they're rare enough to come by.

CS: Absolutely. That's always nice when we have a couple of those over the summer where they're standalone movies that have come out of nowhere by surprise. Wally's obviously always right there with Christopher Nolan when he's shooting, so was it really obvious that he can step in and deal with actors and convey ideas and stuff like that as well?
Murphy: Yeah, I think directing is about communication really, and about being able to use the resources that you have effectively, and Wally's a brilliant communicator. Obviously, the skills that he has as a DP--I mean, he's one of the finest DP's around at this point--so that stuff is second nature to him, but he is also a brilliant communicator and really respects actors. So, he's made the transition wonderfully. He's a real natural.

FreakLikeMe wrote:John Powell is good with thrillers like the Bourne series, he could pull this off.