Coolly posing for cameras in dazzling sunlight on a balcony at the Emirates Palace, wearing a sharp white suit and the obligatory dark sunglasses, Clive Owen looks every inch the A-lister. The combination of LA style, a London accent, brooding good looks and decent acting chops has proved irresistible to Hollywood over the past few years, and won him highly acclaimed roles in Children of Men, Closer and King Arthur. His latest films have taken a more contemplative bent, exploring parenthood in Trust and The Boys are Back, and he’s currently preparing to take on the mammoth part of Ernest Hemingway in a biopic of the writer out next year. Back in the capital this week to support the Abu Dhabi Film Festival and talk about his latest projects, he’s in cheery, articulate form.
Welcome back. How does it feel to be in Abu Dhabi again?
It’s my second time this year. It’s great to be back and to come to the film festival. I’m a big fan of film festivals. I love going to them because I’m in the business of making films, and they’re really a celebration of movies and bringing people together.
What do you think film festivals bring to the industry?
Well, there’s a concern that in the current economic climate, the film industry will become much more conservative, and will only want to bank on things it knows it can make money on. So you get these huge movies that are guaranteed moneymakers, and the tiny budget films. But it’s that middle ground of filmmaking, which I think is the most interesting, that gets hit the hardest. You’ve got new, young directors who should be given opportunities to explore what they can do. Film festivals are a place where people can be discovered, and films that would struggle to get out there in the commercial marketplace get noticed. It’s a platform where people will come, see and talk about new talent.
What is it about the ADFF that separates it from other film festivals?
It’s relatively new and growing fast. Every year more people are coming, so it is becoming a more serious festival on the world circuit. I think it is gaining momentum year by year. I’m looking forward to seeing Mark Romanek’s film, Never Let Me Go.
So you’re set to take on the role of writer Ernest Hemingway next. When do you start filming?
Early next year. It’s a fantastic script about the period where he met and fell in love with Martha Gellhorn against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War. I’m playing opposite Nicole Kidman, and Philip Kaufman is directing. I was hugely impressed by the script, but I wasn’t available initially when they wanted to go, so in the end they said let’s do it early next year. I was thrilled they were prepared to do that.
How are you preparing for the role?
I’m working my way through everything [Hemingway wrote]at the moment. Actually, I’ve deliberately taken some time off to get ready for the role, because it’s such a big undertaking. I want to prepare for it properly. So I’ve been doing a lot of reading and a lot of eating! Hemingway was a big guy…
How much weight do you intend to put on?
I’ll do whatever I can. His physical presence is very important. But I’m trying to do it as healthily as I can. I could easily just start eating a lot of junk food, but that wouldn’t be good for me. So I’ll just try to eat more and put on weight gradually.
Of your previous films, which do you think people have responded to the best and why?
Actually, it changes, which is quite nice. People like a whole variety. Children of Men has some huge fans and I had an amazing time doing it. It was a quite a radical film, a very bold film, and was a pleasure to be involved with. It really struck a chord with lots of people.
You’ve become something of an English sex symbol in Hollywood. What do you think your appeal is?
Um, I don’t really know about that. I feel very lucky that I’m around at a time when the whole film market has become much more international. When I was young, if you wanted to be in American movies you could only play bad boys if you were English. They didn’t want you for anything else! There was a time when it was important to be a leading American man. But with the growth of the international film market there are now movie stars from all over the world and I’m very grateful for that.
So would you ever feel the need to move to the US?
I’ve always loved living in London. My family is settled there and maybe 10 or 15 years ago it was important to go and live in LA, but they don’t make the same amount of movies there anymore. If I moved my family out there, I would still spend all my time making movies around the world, so they’d want to know why they were away from their friends and family. So no, I don’t feel I have to be there.
Have you drawn on your family experiences for any of your recent roles?
Hugely. I am a parent, and this isn’t something I’d ever really explored in my movies. I found the script for The Boys Are Back very moving, and I’ve related to a lot of it in terms of bringing up small children and the ups and downs of that. I wanted to avoid making the cozy, comfortable movie version of that story. They’re going through a difficult time and I wanted the relationships to be complicated. The clichéd version is that tragedy brings us together and makes us love each other more, but in real life it’s not always like that. It’s very similar to Trust, the movie I made with David Schwimmer. The reason I responded to that script too wasn’t just the subject matter but the way it dealt with the fracture in the family. Tragedy happens and the family reacts in different ways.
Are you finding yourself more suited to these kinds of character-driven roles rather than, say, action thrillers?
If you look at all my roles, they’re quite varied. People say I take a lot of serious parts but I’m not sure that’s right. I always try and play characters that have subtext, that are trying to deal with something. A character with conflict gives me more to play with, and is far more interesting.
How do you unwind when you’re not making movies?
I really love watching football. It’s very sad. My diary of whatever I have to do, wherever I have to be, has the Liverpool fixtures in there so I can always catch games. I’ve watched matches in some really amazing situations. I watched Liverpool on a screen in the Namibian desert. And there’s a Liverpool supporters’ bar in New York that I go to whenever I’m in the city. Also, I was filming in Madrid when Spain won the World Cup. We were supposed to be filming that day but ended up setting up a huge screen and so I got to watch it with a completely Spanish crew.
Clive Owen’s latest, The Boys are Back, is in cinemas now
