British film star Clive Owen at the BAFTA awards ceremony
Clive Owen is one of the new generation of British actors who aremaking it bigin Hollywood.

He has shared the screen with stars like Julia Roberts, Natalie Portman and Bruce Willis, and has even beentippedas a future James Bond.

Despite becoming a major star, Clive Owen still finds time to communicate directly with his fans. In July 2005 he conducted aQ and A sessionat a screening of his latest film, Sin City. The following excerpts¹ were recorded at that session.

Asked about why he became an actor, Clive had this to say: “I did aschool playwhen I was a kid and from then on always wanted to be an actor. I’ve done a lot of theatre. My first love is film. I think there’s a slightsnobberyabout theatre – people say if you can’t do it on stage, you’re not a proper actor. I don’t really agree with that.”

He then went on to discuss his reasons for choosing the roles he has taken: “The reason I tend to play the sort of parts I do is because is there’s something to do. For me it’s all about playing conflict in some way. Acting² is aboutsubtext. It’s about playing a character who’sgrapplingwith some sort of issue. If everything is obvious and clear and straightforward³ there’s not an awful lot to do apart from say the lines.”

He also talked about how he prepares forshooting: “I come prepared. I’m not great atwinging it. I don’t liketurning upand hoping some magic’s going to happen. I do put work in but I’m not quite sure what it is.”

Clive discussed the differences in the film-making process in the UK and the United States: “I suppose the fundamental differences are in the British films that I’ve done tend to be smallerbudgetswhich tends to mean that the directors get left alone a bit more. There’s lessstudio intrusion. There’s not producersbuzzing aroundputting their input⁴ in every day.”

However, when asked if he had any plans to livefull timein Hollywood, Clive reassured⁵ his fans he would not be moving overseas: “My family’s here. My family lives in this area so I’ve got absolutely no intention- I mean, I just have to travel a lot. I have to do a lot of flying backwards⁶ and forwards. But I want to live in London so that’s what I’ll do.”