Clive Owen Talks Duplicity

23 July 2009

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Clive Owen was struggling to find a script that grabbed his attention before Duplicity dropped on to his doormat with a welcome thud and reunited him on screen with Julia Roberts for the first time since their successful collaboration in Closer in 2004.

Find out what happened when we caught up with Clive for a chat…

Had you met Tony Gilroy before you worked together on Duplicity?

Briefly. I think I met him through George Clooney – they did Michael Clayton together and I loved that film. I think we talked about the Bourne films. He wrote them and I was in the first one (Bourne Identity). I knew that I wanted to work with him and when the script for Duplicity came to me I was delighted. At that point I was actually beside myself because I hadn’t been seeing anything that I liked at all – and then that arrived it was a huge relief. I loved it.

Were you beginning to despair that you wouldn’t find a good script?

Well, I was reading things and I just wasn’t getting excited by any of the scripts. You start to think ‘is it me?’ Because I was reading a lot and there was nothing that I wanted to do, there was nothing out there. It was like ‘am I getting too fussy?’ And then Duplicity arrived.

But what do you do when you don’t see scripts that hold your attention? Do you hold your horses or take something that has potential?

I’m hugely fortunate now in that I don’t feel that if I don’t take something I’ll never work again. I’m very lucky so I will just sit and bide my time. I’m not going to do a film just for the sake of working. But with Duplicity I had a mad appetite for it because I knew how good the dialogue was.

How did Julia Roberts come on board?

Well, Tony and I got together and he said to me ‘who would be your number one for the role of Clare?’ And I immediately said ‘Julia..’ Why? Because she’s the best and I had a great time working with her before and I wanted to work with her again. I knew she would be perfect for this. We’re friends so we talked about it but she was just about to have a baby and real life is much more important (laughs). So it was quite a while later, after she’d had the baby, that she read it and met Tony and called me up.  I was beside myself because one, I was mad to do the film and two, there’s no one better than Julia.

Does it help when you know that you’ve proved that you have screen chemistry with an actress? You two had worked together on Closer so it presumably made life easier?

There’s a whole lot of stuff that’s taken care of. To a certain extent chemistry is a natural thing, I like Julia enormously, I respect her enormously – we trust each other and so we can just have fun. You can get on with the work and you don’t have to worry about that side of it. Like I said before, she raises my game. She’s incredibly smart and skilful but as well as all of that, she’s just lovely to be around. Filming was just a pleasure and I felt privileged to be a part of it.

What do you look for when you are choosing a part these days?

More and more it’s the director. It used to be more the script but the balance has slightly shifted for me. I’ve had the best times working with the best directors – directors that you really admire, whose work you love – and I think that’s where it’s at. I’d say Tom Tykwer (The International) and Tony Gilroy are two of the best I’ve ever come across. I don’t look at films to see if they are independent or made by a studio, all the lines are blurred. I would have jumped at The International and Duplicity whatever context they were in. They are serious films made by seriously good directors.

Does the leading lady play a part in your choice?

I enjoy working with actresses. I enjoy a film like Duplicity because it has a lot of banter with Julia and that’s great to do. When you are playing against somebody as good as Julia it completely raises your game because she is so smart and such a great actress. It doesn’t get any better than that.

You’re a hugely successful actor. What keeps you grounded?

My family. And concentrating on the work. Simple as that.

How would you describe your character in Duplicity?

The guy’s a hustler. He’s a very sharp hustler who lives on his wits.

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