The "Layer Cake" cast is loaded with top-notch actors. What’s it like working opposite actors such as Colm Meaney, Michael Gambon, and Kenneth Cranham?
It’s easy, to tell you the truth. That’s the simple answer. When you’ve got great actors in front of you, it cuts my job in half. It’s actually easy because when you know they’re going to be great, then you have to step up to the plate.
Does that elevate your game?
Sure. It’s like they say, you’ve got to aim for the stars and you might hit the treetops.
Photos of a scene featuring you and Sienna Miller seem to indicate there was an alternate ending.
There was. I don’t want to give the ending away but we shot two endings. We shot the ending that Sony wanted and we shot the ending that we wanted. And then we told Sony, or Matthew told Sony, that he’d shot the ending that they wanted and then he edited his ending into the movie. Then they [screened] the movie with Matthew’s ending and they liked it so it was kept.
And now to the Bond rumors…
And they are just that…
Definitely publications have you already cast in the role, some say you said no thanks, and others just report you’re in the running. Do you get tired of reading and addressing all the different rumors?
I’m not tired of it. Look, it’s a high class problem to have. But there’s an awful lot of smoke and very little fire at the moment. There’s a lot of names in the pot and I happen to be one of them. And you know I’ve said to people that I’d be very silly not to give it very careful consideration. But we’re not that far down the line yet. They’ve got a lot of working out to do, what they want to do. And if the call comes, then obviously we’ll think about it very carefully. But it’s… You know, the British press…I love them but they’ve decided that they wanted to call it and they’ve called it (laughing).
They’ve already got you cast as James Bond.
And trying on the suit.
It’s such a double-edged sword. It’s a role you could feel trapped in.
There is that, so that would have to come into it. It is and that’s why you have to think about these things very carefully.
What are you looking for in a role?
I’m looking for something that changes. I mean, as far as I’m concerned every piece of art or whatever you do should have some sort of political import. By politic I mean the wider meaning of politics. Something that has something to say and hopeful engages a little debate when you walk out of the cinema.
Is that why you took a supporting role in “The Jacket?”
I did that because [director] John Maybury’s a friend of mine. I did his movie “Love is the Devil” with him and he asked me to do it. It was a week’s filming in Glasgow and I was quite happy to go out there and shoot it for him. And who wouldn’t want to play a mental patient in a hospital? It’s fun.
Did you come up with your own dialogue?
That had a pretty tight script. I did little bits, but I always do.
”The Jacket” was advertised in the States as a horror film, which really hurt its chances of attracting the right audience.
Which is a shame. What I hope is that it’ll have some legs and that people will see it. Once it gets on DVD people will watch it for what it is. It’s not a horror film. It’s a psychological thriller and it’s also a bit of a fairy story, to tell you the truth.
And a romance.
Exactly. That’s what I mean. That’s the strongest part of the movie is the romantic aspect of it.
Speaking of romance, will we ever see you in lighter fare? A romantic comedy maybe?
No (laughing). I don’t know, we’ll see. It depends on the script. I never say never because I always said I’d never do a gangster movie but this one came along and this one was too difficult to resist.
But “Layer Cake’s” not a gangster movie…
Right. So I might do a romantic comedy that’s not a romantic comedy.
