Posts tagged clive owen
Clive Owen Interview For ‘Trust’
Oct 3rd
I recently spoke with Oscar nominee and Golden Globe winner Clive Owen (Closer, Sin City, Inside Man, Children Of Men) about his upcoming movie ‘Trust’. Owen plays the role of Will Cameron, a father who’s shocked to learn that his teenage daughter has been victimized by an online sexual predator whom she met on a chat room. Check out the movies synopsis and what Owen had to say below.
Safe and sound in their suburban home, Will and Lynn Cameron (Clive Owen and Catherine Keener) used to sleep well at night. When their 14-year-old daughter, Annie, made a new friend on-line – a 16-year-old boy named Charlie – Will and Lynn didn’t think much of it. But when Annie and Charlie make a plan to meet what happens in the next twenty-four hours changes the entire family forever. Charlie is really a 40-year-old serial paedophile (Tom McCarthy) and, once Annie’s rape comes to light, it becomes a touchstone event that reverberates through the entire family.
Your character implodes over the course of the film. How did you decided to play certain things the way you did?
Clive Owen: One of the things I was very taken in by the script with was that it descended on the internet predator and the dangers of all of that, but also a large part of the film is about how a family is ripped apart, the tragedy of this happening, it happens to an awful lot of people. The huge sense of loss and pain, I thought it was a very tough brutal look, it’s not a cliché version where everybody comes together and we all love each other and stagger through it, it ruptures them, pushes people into different places and tests them. As a parent I found the idea of that very, very upsetting and that’s why I wanted to do the film and why I wanted to explore the real horror and pain of that. I think in Will’s case he doesn’t handle it very well, he’s full of anger and rage. He’s completely displaced. It’s upset that is out of control, it’s not the healthiest way of behaviours but it’s very real.
As a father the script must of been pretty alarming?
Clive Owen: It was a very, very strong and powerful script and it was particularly resonant with me because I’ve got two girls that are hitting that Facebook age really, it’s the time when they’re beginning all that and I’ve got concerns like every parent. I thought this was a really strong examination of something we should all be careful about and a little worried about. I think the way that children are relating on the internet is something that is racing ahead so quickly, we have to sort of try and take check and try and make sure it’s healthy for our kids.
You don’t want to over monitor your children because I think that can be overzealous. I think there has to be concerns though. The minute my eldest daughter joined Facebook she received a number of messages from people she didn’t know, wanting to become her friend. Instantly this film examines that as a concern.
I read you specifically wanted to work with Catherine Keener, what was it like working with her?
Clive Owen: Well I’m a huge fan, I’ve wanted to work with her for a very long time. I practically love everything she does. I think she both elevates and grounds everything she is involved in, I was totally thrilled when she said yes to this.
What do you use the internet for? If you do?
Clive Owen: I’m not really computer savvy to be honest. I use it for emails, I use it to catch up on football a lot when I’m travelling – watching, reading about. Not much more than that (laughs). I support Liverpool.
Clive Owen Interview For The Boys Are Back
Jan 4th
I recently caught up with Clive Owen, (Closer, Sin City, Inside Man, Children Of Men) who gives an Oscar worthy performance in The Boys Will Are Back, one of the most honest depictions of family life and grief I’ve seen in film. Check out the synopsis and my interview below.
Based on the acclaimed memoir by Simon Carr, The Boys are Back in Town, Academy Award® nominee Scott Hicks (Shine) directs Miramax Films’ THE BOYS ARE BACK, inspired by the poignant, comic and uplifting true story of a man who must suddenly raise his two sons alone. After the untimely passing of his second wife, the ill-prepared Joe (Clive Owen) is confronted with the daily challenges of parenthood, while coping not only with his own loss but also with his young son Artie’s expressions of grief. They soon are joined by Harry, Joe’s teenage son from his first marriage, who brings his own personal “baggage” into the mix.
Your performance in this is great, it seems to me this is the most emotional part you’ve ever played, was that what attracted you to the part?
Clive Owen: It was a very beautiful script, I was taken when I read the script. I thought it was unusual in it’s delicacy and intelligence in exploring these relationships, it wasn’t obvious or overly sentimental, it was very delicate and precise. I found it terribly moving. I’m a father myself and parenting is a huge part of my life, when reading the script and getting to the part when he has to tell his boys their mother might not be around for much longer I found it deeply upsetting, just the whole idea of that conversation, then there was this beautiful exploration of both grief and parenting from a guys perspective, it was never heavy or sentimental it was just beautifully written.
When your a doing a film like this, that does have so much emotion and such a journey, there is a chance it will become sentimental or gloopy, I think to the films credit it never felt like that for me, was it hard to keep away from that?
Clive Owen: Scott Hicks and I, the first time we met we were both adamant that we didn’t want to make that kind of film. Personally from my point of view I’ve seen lot’s of family movies, where the family is in this lovely warm bubble and even when things get tough, it stays lovely and sweet, family’s aren’t like that, it’s much more volatile than that, this was a script and project that dealt with it more realistically.
I was always more interested in the times when it was tougher in the film for instance when Artie has the tantrum in the car, I have been in situations like that with my children, I think kids pre 8 or 9 are kind of crazy and manic obsessive and they go into their funks and you have to try and get them out of it, as a parent I could really relate to that scene, I wanted it to be really hard for my character, because all parents will relate. If this was a big hollywood movie, with lot’s of producers caring what would be done, people would worry about the likeability of the character or why are they being so mean to each other, it’s not bad parenting in those situations and I was confident as a parent people would relate to it, they have been in those experiences, it’s not bad parenting, that’s just the up’s and down’s of bringing up children, it was something that was very well explored in the script and which I thought we should keep to as much as possible.
It’s rare that a film like this is from from a man’s point of view.
Clive Owen: Yeah, added to that it’s a memoir based on somebody’s life, those things happened, it’s not a nice idea for a film, it’s all drawn from real experience.
You have so many different types of roles in the films you pick, is that on purpose?
Clive Owen: I don’t set out, I think at the end of the day my career is made up of all my individual choices I’ve made, it is literally an instinctive response, I respond to the material, I read Shoot Em Up and laughed all the way through and thought I want to do that film, it’s crazy and I read this script and I’m interested in it for other reasons. I trained in the theatre, which is all about playing lots of different parts, I enjoy exploring different aspects of myself in the films and people have said to me this film is quite a departure, I never saw it as that but enough people have told me now, I’ve got to accept it.
I’m a parent and being a parent is a big part of my life so I recognised and felt I had similar experiences to a lot of things in the movie, so it felt reasonably familiar, I didn’t have the tragic loss but in terms of the up’s and down’s of parenting I felt I experienced a few of them, at the end of the day it’s all about responding to the material and wanting to work with the director that’s what dictates my decision.
The Boys Are Back is released in the UK January 22nd
The Boys Are Back Trailer – Clive Owen Interview Coming Soon
Dec 5th
This looks like it could be the tear jerker of 2010. I was meant to see this at the London Film Festival but due to the wonderful London Underground I missed the screening, the response I got back from the people who watched it was very good. The Boys Are Back is released in the UK January 22nd. Check out the new trailer below. My interview with Clive Owen will be on the site the next two weeks.
Based on the acclaimed memoir by Simon Carr, The Boys are Back in Town, Academy Award® nominee Scott Hicks (Shine) directs Miramax Films’ THE BOYS ARE BACK, inspired by the poignant, comic and uplifting true story of a man who must suddenly raise his two sons alone. After the untimely passing of his second wife, the ill-prepared Joe (Clive Owen) is confronted with the daily challenges of parenthood, while coping not only with his own loss but also with his young son Artie’s expressions of grief. They soon are joined by Harry, Joe’s teenage son from his first marriage, who brings his own personal “baggage” into the mix.