In the abstract, it's unthinkable. I don't really plan in the long term about anything. I can't think where a sequel could go. I think this time one would have to think of it as a sequel, unless Helen wrote another book. The only way which I could possibly imagine it being interesting is that if it showed us in a state of advanced decrepitude really - a heavily deteriorated Mark Darcy. I think we're on the way. And Daniel Cleaver and Bridget really puncturing the fairy tale completely might be a way to take it. But I've been ready to move on to other things for quite a while now, actually. I'll be quite content to live my life without another one.
Can you discuss the movie you and Kevin Bacon are doing?
This is a film [called] "Where the Truth Lies." It's from a novel of that name by Rupert Holmes. It's a little hard to pitch. It's set in the U.S. and it goes from 1959 to 1974. It cuts between those two eras. It's about an entertainment duo in the '50s. We're a fictional, legendary entertainment duo and their peccadilloes and their involvement with sex, drugs, the Mafia, and how it all gets out of hand. Eventually it leads to the death of a woman in a hotel room. And it's never resolved. It's a big mystery, and then cut to 1974 where this investigative journalist is on the case trying to find out why the actors broke up and who killed this woman and were they involved. That's basically the mystery of it.
Are you the journalist?
The journalist is a woman. And I'm one of the two. Kevin Bacon and I play the act.
How did you like working with director Atom Egoyan?
I find him absolutely fantastic. A lot of freedom. He has a very, very strong idea of how much he wants. He doesn't over-cover things. He knows exactly how he wants to shoot it. He doesn't protect himself with endless coverage. He just knows how he wants the scene to be revealed, depends on his actors, and works with them very specifically.
Sometimes you have a slightly adversarial relationship with your director. And that can be a good thing. I mean, it can be a stimulating, slightly contentious relationship. Adam doesn't work like that. He does it very gently. You have enormous regard always for his intelligence. So there's always a big listening relationship. He tends to work by watching what you do, finding something that interests him, even if it's just a speck of what you've shown him, and then expanding that.
And you're also working with Emma Thompson on another movie?
Yes. It's something she wrote for children. It's called "Nanny McPhee." She's the nanny. She's in it as well.
So you're the father of the kids the nanny is taking care of?
That's right.
Is it a romance, even though it's for children?
It's [is],yeah. It's romantic [and] it's partly comedy.
Do you take part in the special effects?
No, I'm sort of out of that. I'm a makeup artist in a funeral parlor. I make up corpses.
Are you taking a break after that?
After the film? I don't know yet. It depends on how long the break will be. I might.
Would you work with Richard Curtis again?
I like Richard and I think Richard wants to strike out to new territory. So if he did call again, I'd think it'd be something different, interesting.
