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Peter Cattaneo, the award-winning director of the 1997 critically acclaimed comedy, "The Full Monty," is back with his second theatrical release, "Lucky Break." In "Lucky Break," Cattaneo delivers a romantic comedy set in a prison and starring a lovable bunch of singing criminals.

PETER CATTANEO

How difficult is it to follow up “The Full Monty?”
I don't really think about it. I think a lot of things have happened to me in-between the time of making the last one and making this one, so you just get on with making the movie and I don't think about the next one.

How do you stop from focusing on your previous success?
I really just don't think about it. When you make your movie you are very busy. You are just right in that bubble with the actors, thinking about your next shot, and then next thing. That's what you are thinking of.

You have quite a mix of veterans and newcomers in this film. How did you decide on this mix of actors?
It was great to mix Christopher Plummer - who is the real old school establishment actor - with someone like Julian Barratt who plays the drama teacher. He puts in a really good performance and he's a stand-up comic who's never been in a movie in his life. There's one shot with Christopher and Julian and it's like the two ends of acting. It's great to mix up those people. It's just a gut thing; we always went for the best man or woman for the job each time and we got every lucky. A lot of these actors are unfamiliar over here but they are all at the top of their game in terms of character actors at home. Jimmy Nesbitt is a household name [in England]. He's always like the “Best Dressed Man” in London; he's the housewives' favorite. He seemed really perfect.

The guys are all in prison, they are guilty, and the characters have a clear decision time. I was trying to not get off the hook and say they are wrongly imprisoned. They are all guilty as charged. I needed actors who were able to be that kind of sympathetic, who had the working class roots but who were lovable rogues, who you would kind of root for even though they were criminals.

What makes them nice guys?
They are nice guys. That's part of it, they are nice guys. I think it's just an air people have. We deliberately didn't have people who were psychopaths or murderers or sex offenders, because that's just a different movie.

You seem to enjoy placing people in situations that are just a little over their head.
That's just drama in a way. That's often just a great starting point for any story. You knock people down and they are going to regenerate and in some mutated way, try and get out of the corner they've been put in. One does look for the kind of people who have been knocked down. The other thing is it makes the movie kind of uplifting if you get people at their lowest end and see them somehow overcome the obstacles.

The audience always leaves in a good mood after one of your films.
I love a happy ending. I go to the movies and I like to feel good at the end of it. It's interesting to mix lighter moments with dark moments; I find that kind of balancing act between pathos and comedy quite a fascinating area.

How did you come up with the idea of doing a prison movie?
I got this idea from seeing “Guys and Dolls” done in a jail. My reaction was like, “What? I've got to see this.” I researched it more and thought there was a movie in this. I didn't know exactly what the plot would be and then the idea for the escape kind of hit me. You've got the theme of escapism because they are actually physically using it to escape and the show itself is a kind of escapist entertainment. There's a nice theme going there, and all the characters in some way are escaping from their troubles in one way or another.

I got Ronan Bennett to write it and we started researching it. I started visiting prisons and meeting prisoners but I was keeping an eye on myself because I didn't want it to start getting into prison issues. You've got drug problems, horrible violence, overcrowding - there's so many issues when you get into prison that I thought, “Hold on. Is this going to be a 6-part documentary about the troubles of the British prison system or is it going to be a movie?” These criminals are more “Guys and Dolls” criminals than they are real evil guys and that was always to keep that tone lifted. There's even a scene with Mortimer the Governor and the drama instructor where they are discussing what sort of play they want to put on. The instructor says, “I want to make it real about all the prisoners' problems.” And Mortimer answered, “No, that would be a bit depressing, dear boy.” That was my attitude, to make it fun.

You cast actors who can't sing trying to act like actors.
It was fascinating and I've seen it done badly. I've seen bad acting done badly by bad actors. I was really keen to get it right. We talked a lot because, first of all, these guys aren't worried about their acting, they're just thinking escape. I went to see shows and it's an obsession with not forgetting your line. Forget acting, it was like, “Am I going to remember my lines? Is everyone laughing at me? Am I on the right mark?” There is all this obsession with all the technical stuff and then the voice comes out with no emotion whatsoever. That's what we went for and I think it's quite convincing that they've handled it well.