Clive Owen sits down with The Hollywood Reporter's Scott Feinberg during the 58th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival to record a live episode of the Awards Chatter podcast. The English stage and screen actor reflects on his path from a rough childhood to his star-making role in 'Croupier'; why he wasn't excited about the prospect of playing James Bond; playing different characters in the stage and screen versions of 'Closer'; why, since 'The Knick', he has increasingly worked in TV; and more. The special event is presented by Lasvit, the Czech designer and manufacturer of bespoke glass products.
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00:00pretty early after after leaving school you're you're in this show Chancellor
00:05this is 1990 1991 20 episodes on ITV was it truly that explosive for your your
00:13life yeah it was a massive shift for me because I'd done you know I left Rada I
00:17did plays I did small parts in little things and then this big TV show
00:21arrived and I remember I remember going away and coming back to London there
00:25were huge pictures on the tube of my face and it took me probably a good
00:30couple of years just to recalibrate and go well this is what the deal is this is
00:34what you've signed into and you've got to find a way where where you're
00:37comfortable with it what was your experience when you got to Hollywood I
00:42think around the time of both of those projects heading in the UK well I'd do
00:47these small British films and they would often send you over for a few days and
00:50you'd go and take some meetings in case this little film kind of here and to be
00:54honest with you I found it very tough and I didn't like it at all and then I
00:57do this very very small film with Mike Hodges called croupier and suddenly it
01:03became the little indie film of that year that everyone wanted to check out
01:06in those days that film I think stayed in the cinema for six to nine months you
01:12could still go and go and check it out as Mike Hodges said afterwards that that
01:16that film wasn't released it escaped and it totally changed everything one thing
01:23that I think happened pretty soon after croupier was you being approached to
01:29play a guy referred to as the driver in a series of very high-end BMW ads now
01:37can you explain what tipped the scale to to do these which which were very cool
01:41once they got done I was I was hesitant and nervous and thinking really as
01:46things are opening up do I really want to do a bunch of commercials and then I
01:50started to hear about the caliber of the people involved and I ended up working
01:54with like just such an incredible array of direction I mentioned John
01:58Frankenheimer Tony Scott Wong Kar-wai John Woo Ang Lee Guy Ritchie I mean
02:05these are it's in a way what better opportunity for a young actor and you
02:09would ultimately come back around and work with let's say like Ang Lee I don't
02:13know if it had anything to do with you know those days but it's kind of a cool
02:19showcase that I imagine you're happy you you ended up doing for sure they were
02:23great so one other byproduct of people seeing you as you know this kind of
02:29slick cool guy in those ads might have been the beginning of these incessant
02:36rumors that you had to deal with for a number of years about might this be the
02:40next James Bond do you think it traces back to that I wear a tuxedo and croupier
02:46of course the of course the back-to-back now was that ever real I had read one
02:52thing where Pierce Brosnan himself might have advocated for you did you is that
02:56correct it was all it was all hype and talk and there's a lot worse things to
03:01be associated with and if you take that on it's a massive undertaking for your
03:09whole life that's that's a career decision now everyone thinks and assumes
03:14that what every everyone would want to do it but think about your life think
03:19about going in a bar for a drink think about doing normal things and whether
03:25that would be possible after playing that part