Clive Owen: The Movieline Interview

How much of that is a consideration when you're agreeing to do a new film, that you'll have to leave your family behind for an extended period?

The only thing I've stopped doing is trying to do films back-to-back. Spending a lot of time away and then going straight to another film, the time gets pushed too much. I've gone into a rhythym where I try to do a film and then take considerable downtime after it, so I'm away and then I'll definitely be at home. That gives me the freedom to go anywhere and do any film, because I know I'm not going to do another one straight away afterwards. You know, going to Australia [where the film was set] is a long way from London! But my family came, they came for two weeks and had the best time out there.

And in a sense, you're developing a surrogate cinematic family while you're away from your actual one. You're playing a parent to two children again -- they're just not yours.

Yeah, my little one came out and took one look and was like, "Who are these kids hanging out with my dad?" [Laughs] That's what the film was, that's what we we were exploring in the film. It was important to do that.

The film is adapted from Simon Carr's memoir, but you're not playing Simon, you're playing a Simon-type fictional character named Joe. How similar is your performance to the real Simon?

I never met Simon until the very end. Deliberately. I read the script and was very taken with it, it was a beautifully written exploration of parenting. I read his memoir, which was very different because it was sort of anecdotal...some of it was very powerful and moving, and very funny! There was a huge amount of humor in it. But that was kind of enough. I think if I'd have met him and seen him and seen how he spoke and how he was, I'd have been thinking about it, and I needed to be free to just go in and interpret it as I'd seen it.

Is there such a thing for you as too much preparation for a role?

Yeah. I'd say in terms of if you overwork scenes, you can blow them out a little bit so that they're overdone and you sort of lose the aliveness and spontaneity because you've overworked them. Especially in a film like this, it was very different for me because I do prepare a lot, usually. I read the script an awful lot and I come prepared, but when you're working primarily with a six-year-old boy, that all goes out the window. He's so unpredictable and alive, and the key to the film is that you believe our bond, our relationship. It's very much about keeping loose and available to him, really. If he goes in a direction, you try to go with him, because that's what the film rests upon.

How do you establish that rapport with a child actor?

Well, I like kids, generally. I like hanging with kids. I made sure I took the time [with McAnulty]; I told Scott, "I've gotta get out there early," and I took him away for a few days without the crew, without his parents. I took him to safari parks, fun fairs...I needed him to trust me, especially since I was interested in exploring the tougher elements as well, and to push them. For me to do that, I needed him to know we were just playing and that it was safe with me. I didn't want to scare him, I didn't want him to think, "Why is Clive acting weird at this moment?"

So what was Simon Carr like when you met him?

Kind of different from what I'd expected, but full of the humor and intelligence of the book. It was very memorable meeting him, because he was with the two boys, who were that much older.

And had you met the two boys before?

No, and they met the guys who played them. It was very weird because they were incredibly similar. The older boys were quiet, nice, sensitive, met each other politely. The younger ones were crazy, mucking around, very physical...that's such good casting!

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