British actor Clive Owen talks about playing an alcoholic in The Confirmation, why Donald Trump shouldn’t be banned from the U.K. and what he does in his downtime.
In his latest film, Clive Owen revisits some of the same terrain he traversed with his hit series The Knick–substance abuse. In Bob Nelson’s The Confirmation, Owen plays an alcoholic carpenter whose gung-ho-Catholic ex-wife (Maria Bello) entrusts him with their 8-year-old son (Jaeden Lieberher) for a weekend. The 51-year-old actor researched the physical effects of the delirium tremens, not unlike the sweat-drenched cocaine and opium withdrawals that his Dr. Thackery suffered from on The Knick.
Although he has worked with some of the greatest contemporary filmmakers — Alfonso Cuaron, Steven Soderbergh, Mike Nichols — Owen had no reservations about starring in Nelson’s directorial debut; Nelson penned the Oscar-nominated screenplay for Nebraska. When picking a new project, Owen says, “I respond to the material and the director, or I don’t. I very rarely have that decision of ‘Should I do it?’ ”
The drama opens today in limited theaters and on iTunes, the married British actor and father of two talked about religion, Hillary Clinton vs. Trump and why he won’t be back for season three of Cinemax’s series.
The Knick?
We always approached the thing as a two-season thing, so when I signed on, I knew that.
If Soderbergh returns from retirement and adapts The Knick into a movie?
It was a movie! It was a 20-hour movie. When you’re working with Soderbergh, there’s no difference whatsoever because he shoots both exactly the same.
Worst career advice ever received?
It’s all about being likable. When you act, try to be likable because that’s where success lies. It was from a casting director many years ago.
Seeing yourself on big screen?
I’ve gotten less and less comfortable with watching myself. When I first started, in terms of sort of learning my craft and trying to improve, I used to watch dailies. More and more, I’ll only watch a film twice maximum, and then I never want to see it again. I watch it before I have to talk about it so that I know what I’m talking about in terms of the press, and then I might watch it once with an audience, but then that’s it. I’ll never want to watch it again.
Working with many great directors like Alfonso Cuaron and Soderbergh?
I would love to because I love both of them. They’re two of the best directors to work with, but no immediate plans.
Working with Mike Nichols on Closer?
He was not only one of the greatest directors but one of the greatest human beings I ever came across. Just unbelievably smart and generous. It was definitely a highlight working with him. He’s just so unbelievably good with actors.
Directors on wish list?
I’m a huge fan of Paul Thomas Anderson, and the Coen brothers. There’s a lot of people that I’d love to work with. The beauty of the film game is that there’s an enormous amount of really talented people with different strengths. I look back on all the directors I’ve worked with. The one thing you can say is, there’s no rules because they’re all so different.
Favorite thing about Hollywood?
Working with talented people. If you’re lucky enough to have a bit of success, that gives you the option to work with talented people. That, for me, is really what the point of success is. It’s not for its own sake. It’s to open up opportunities. Great directors tend to have great crews. I appreciate when I work with a great costume designer, great props guy. That, to me, is the biggest joy of doing movies.
The thing you hate most about Hollywood?
That it can be very tough for very talented people to get the right breaks. There’s an element of luck involved. To some extent, you make your own luck by working hard and honing your craft, but there are a lot of stories of people who didn’t quite get the right opportunities at the right time. There’s an awful lot of talented people who didn’t get the work and choices they should have had.
Project you were offered and regret turning down?
I can say that I don’t really regret any of the decisions because I made them for the reasons I did. Even some films that I turned down that went on to be hugely successful, I honestly don’t have regrets because there was a reason I turned them down at the time. It was a valid reason. I’m pretty clear-minded when I read a project. I have a strong feeling of wanting to do it, or I don’t. I’m very rarely tortured by the decision. It’s pretty clear to me. I respond to the material and the director, or I don’t. I very rarely have that decision of “Should I do it?” It’s very quick. I’ll read a script and know almost immediately if I want to do it.
Where do you live?
I know London better than any other city. I went to college there. I went to grad school. When I had kids, we settled there. If I could live in any other city, it would probably be New York. But it would have meant that my wife would be with the kids on her own in America, whereas back home, she’s got friends. With children, I love the open spaces of London. You can be right in the thick of the city, but within 15 minutes, you can be in the countryside.
Hilary Clinton or Trump?
Clinton.
Calls to ban Donald Trump from the U.K.
No, I don’t think that would be reasonable.
Rferendum for Britain to leave the European Union?
I feel part of the European community, and I’m against the idea.
Reading?
I’m reading a novel by Peter Cameron called Andorra. It’s about a man who ends up on this island of Andorra, very strange world with very kooky characters. The world gets stranger and stranger, and the story gets stranger and stranger. There’s a possibility I might do a film version of it
Leisure:
Just hanging out with the family. Last year I did season two of The Knick and then had a break and then came back to New York to do a play. When I do go home, I want to spend as much time as I can hanging with the kids and doing family things. It’s just their needs, where they are, what they’re doing
Dogmatic themes in The Confirmation, playing lapsed Catholic. Are you religious?
No, I’m not, actually. I wasn’t brought up with any religion.
As in The Knick, you play someone with substance-abuse issues?
It was one of the scenes where I was a little worried how believable it was, the whole hallucinating. I just had done a bit of research, and obviously the power of the scene is that a young boy is having to witness this. So I just did what I always do. I looked around [for] who had wrote about [experiencing DTs] and read about serious alcohol issues and then just tried to convince it was good. Everything I read suggested that it’s great physical pain, as well as the body was subjected to torture, the whole body hurts, and you turn to sweating. So we just tried to make it as accurate as we could.
In The Confirmation, your screen time is with a young actor.
With Jaeden, it’s only upside. I’m one of those rare actors who enjoys working with children. There’s some that don’t like working with kids, but I actually really love it because kids are often very instinctive and very open. For me, to really be convincing playing a parent or acting with a kid, you have to be as open as they are, otherwise you just look like you’re acting. [You can’t] come in too controlling or [have] worked out exactly what you want to do. You have to be open because that’s how you make the relationship convincing. So I actually really enjoy it because that has its challenges, but Jaeden is a freak of nature. He’s the full deal already. He’s very restrained as a young actor. He doesn’t get very excitable, and he doesn’t overstate and overplay things. Even though there’s a huge age difference, we have quite similar sensibilities, and I just had one of the best times with him.
Sci-fi film Valerian?
Producer-director Luc Besson is a huge talent. It’s a project that he’s developed for a long time. I met him and I really liked him, and I wanted to do it. It’s a huge, ambitious movie, and it looks like a great, sort of fun project. It’s a passion project for him, so it’ll be great to be involved
Anon with Andrew Niccol
I’m going to do this film with Andrew Niccol called Anon, which is actually another futuristic movie, with Amanda Seyfried. There is a similarity in some ways between Children of Men and Anon because, as much as you’re stepping into the future a little bit, it’s quite a big comment on the present as well. Anon is set in a world where there is a complete loss of privacy for anybody. Everything that everybody does is recorded. Niccol says it’s about the battle for privacy, which we’ve probably already lost.
