Did playing this role come easy to you?

Did it come easy to me? I don't know, I just tried to imagine someone who was without conscience, without remorse. Someone who perhaps was a salesman for the devil, Satan's emissary. Someone who gave out pain sort of like business cards. And reveled in people's pain.

Was it a stretch?

Was it a stretch? Not as much of a stretch as it should be. The script was so good that the words did dance out. The idea was that you're selling something that is really a bad idea and so charm is like the ability to influence without the use of logic, you have to make it smooth and attractive. That's what we went for. I guess the Wall Street, moneyed look helped as well.

Do you have a technique for getting your energy and focus when performing?

Very much so, very much so. I think that to hear everything running and with full intensity, is the only way to go. To be half-cocked, literally, will end up in a really unlucky spill. So in the same way that before a music show, a rock show, you want to just focus your energy, it's that same feeling about going into a scene. I was in at such a deep end, with all these actors, Keanu, Djimon, and it was such a huge set, I was really mindful of the fact that I was completely out of place and pretty out of it (laugh). I really just didn't want to be the weak link.

Were there any parallels to music in preparing for this role?

Yup, absolutely. There is a kind of relief. I always start with a blank page when I'm doing music so it's slightly more torturous. And with this, you're interpreting something and what a joy it is when it's so well-written. It's strange, when I read Balthazar's words, they had a sort of a musicality to them, like a rhythm to them. That seemed to be quite self-evident. I was lucky enough that when I auditioned, I guess that Francis saw something in my interpretation that he liked. I know that Akiva felt something positive about how I'd approached it as well. So I guess it all fit together, and I was lucky enough to be in it. I am so lucky to be in it because it's such a great film.

Being new to the film business, was there pressure?

I was just really aware and I tried to not be a sort of a dilettante just because I happened to have had some success in one area, I should be granted success in this other area. I just appreciate that if I wanna do it seriously, I have to be able to get in there and deliver and not expect any favors.

Has your success in the music business helped or hindered you here?

I think it's a combination of both. Obviously from the music, there's an intrigue into my desire, I wanted to be involved. But there's also a fear that my lack of experience was a detriment. Obviously, to be involved in this film kind of starts to put a bit of confidence into people that are making films that I won't screw up and fall over and hit my head on the camera (laugh).

You're also in the "The Game of Their Lives," appearing in more than one release at the same time.

That's so strange, isn't it (laugh)? Truth is stranger than fiction. You just couldn't have written or planned this. I mean, if you'd sort of sat down with a career of goals or desires five years ago, the idea that 2005 would be the unveiling of two huge films that I'm in, it's pretty other worldly. Sort of out of our control.

Is this like having two albums on the Top Ten at the same time or is music very different?

It's just great to be out there and working, especially in this day and age, with so many bad things going on in the world. Just to be able to be out there and working and to sustain a career in this insane entertainment world, is an achievement in itself. So we're just happy to be doing it and we'll continue to try and do the good work, and see if the success comes.

Compared with when you started out, does knowing where your next meal is coming from make it easier or more difficult to be creative?

It really depends what the reason is, how driven you are to do it in the first place. What your incentive is. For me, when I was doing music, I did music for enough time before I sold a record to say that it was definitely not a smart business plan, you know? And the meals that I got myself were from work, from a day job. I was a painter. So you have to stay true to that. For example, this record I have coming out now, I've been able to feed myself these last two years, but at the same time it hasn't satisfied the creative impulses that I've had. And it's been quite a struggle, I've had to leave one label, go to another, all that kind of boring backroom stuff. But the record, I think, has benefited from the time it's taken. I'm excited for it to come out. I didn't feel like my ambition for good work was dimmed by the fact that I knew that I had sandwiches for life (laugh).

In "The Game of Their Lives," tell us about your character, Stanley Mortensen.

He played for Blackpool, a top scorer for England. He was a great footballer, and in fact, that was one of the things that I didn't want to portray him as, the typical English bad guy. It's a bit of cliché, there's more to us than bad guys or criminals, you know. The main part, really my main part, is the football.

With your busy schedules, when do you and Gwen Stefani find time to spend with each other?

Well, being a Scorpio, I think that romance is everything, you know? The idea that marriage can somehow dull that, I mean, that's the cliché. I'm just an advocate of the power of romance over all those preconceptions. It really helps when you have such an amazing looking wife, you know? Funny enough, for Valentine's Day, I will be going to New York do some TV for "Constantine" so we will be separated but I've already got some good plans to keep all the right fires burning as does Gwen.

What inspired you to reach for the stars as a young kid in England or to believe in yourself?

I didn't necessarily believe in myself. My desire was always to be creative and to never have any expectations of that. It's usually people that tell you that can't do things who are most inspiring. My family didn't disbelieve but they were worried that I was wasting away. Living on no money and never getting anywhere so, no, I had the opposite.

There's a lot of waiting around involved in movies and a lot of time in the make-up chair, how's your patience for that?

My patience is really good for that stuff because I'm not jaded by any of it. If I'm suffering, so is everyone else. It's a 96-day shoot, what am I going to be the guy going, "I'm bored...get me a coffee." Everyone's slightly bored at times so I just shut up and try to be good (laugh).

Who are you working with on the new record?

The new band is called Institute and it comes out in July and going to be going on tour and hopefully speaking to some of you again and promoting that album. I hope you all enjoy it.


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