What was particularly strange about that whole experience for you?

CO: I didn’t find it that strange, actually, it was a huge event, and something that a lot of people are passionate about. I think it was great for people who are really into it to come together and share their passions and celebrate their passions. I didn’t find it as crazy as people thought it was. If you’re crazy about comic books or crazy about acting, it’s fantastic to all get together and share that passion.

Paul was just in and commented that it was the highlight of his career, getting to break your fingers. Was there one scene in particular that you loved.

CO: A lot of it was so ridiculous and over the top. But yeah, it was good for me too.

You’ve got to have a sense of humor for that, to play a character like this so deadpan.

CO: You could have played it another way, but my instinct is that the straighter you play it, the funnier it is, and if you’re winking all the time, it’s like the whole thing is just a big joke. It can turn into something a bit smug and a bit indulgent, and I think it’s important to play it as straight as anything, as sort of a subtle lunatic.

I think kind of the idea was that, because you’re so serious, no one in the movie sees how silly it is, except for that one line where you’re like, “this is really fucked up.” Did that follow through from the script?

CO: Yes. I found the script very, very funny. That’s the truth. I thought it was wicked, irreverent, crazy; it was original, I’ve never seen anything like it. It grabbed me from the beginning; I just couldn’t believe the cheek in it. I think if it had been a straighter “action” film, I probably would have been less interested.

There’s almost a commentary on the matter of Americans and guns and violence. Did you bring some British sensibility to it?

CO: As soon as he talked to me, Michael said, “I’d really love for you to keep your accent and just do it”, because I think the dryness and the deadpan just worked for this film, and I really wanted to do it in my own voice.

It seems that your career is on an incredible roll. How surprised are you about that?

CO: It was funny, because I just saw Croupier last Sunday, because I’m a patron of a cinema back home, and we did a little Croupier thing with Mike Hodges. And just seeing that film again—it’s where it all started ff for me, really. And thinking of what’s happened since then, it’s just amazing. Croupier cost less than £2 million to make, and then I think of all the people and opportunities I’ve worked with since, and I feel very lucky, I feel very fortunate. I just have my eye out for work, really, and I have to pinch myself all the time when I get to work with all these amazing people. I just think, “Wow, I’m so lucky!” When you take a film on, that sort of pinching yourself and thinking “oh my god, I’m working with Alfonso or Spike” wears away pretty quickly, because you just get down into it, doing your work to achieve the film.

What made you want to become an actor?

CO: I did a school play and fell in love with it.

What’s your take on Sir Walter Raleigh? How do you make a character like that interesting enough for audiences to be able to handle it?

CO: An incredible character. You could do five movies on him and you wouldn’t do him justice. He literally discovered the new world, he was a pirate, a writer, a courtier; he just had the most incredible life. But this film isn’t about just his life, it’s about his place within the triangle of the state and Elizabeth and him, and his relationship with Elizabeth, and how at another time or another place it could have turned into something, but because of the situations, it doesn’t. It will be factual, but Shekhar [Kapur, director] has an amazing perspective on the film; he has an incredibly vibrant, radical take on the period.

Is it much more historically accurate than the first? I know there were some critics who complained about the inaccuracies in the first one.

CO: Well, whenever you do a film, it’s all going to be about perspective: putting any perspective on it is going to be a difficult thing. It’s never going to be completely accurate, because it’s all about a take on a thing. It is absolutely known that Elizabeth and Walter Raleigh had a very close relationship, and she was furious when he ended up in a relationship with Bess and Elizabeth threw them out of the court, and all of that is in the movie. But how do you say it’s fact? It’s conversations, and no one knows what, for sure, those conversations were.

What was Raleigh like? Was he charismatic, was he cheeky…?

CO: He started off as a pirate, and that was how he came to court. He sailed the seas, he conquered the new world, he took over Spanish ships ad took their money back to England; and then he literally went off, discovered the new world, came back, and started life as a courtier, and rose very quickly. He was an incredible character.

The physical aspect of the character is very specific. Does that influence your choices as an actor, with all those clothes on? Does that deter you at all in your performance?

CO: It’s very important how look in a movie—really, really important. If you get that wrong, you’ll never feel right. I think it’s the most important issue, because you have to feel right in order to put everything into its place. In a film like Shoot Em Up, there’s one costume. You’ve got to get what you think sums up this guy by looks, and it’s key that you get that right. An actor has to feel that he is supported, that he’s feeling right go and do his work.

What was it like working in television?

CO: I did it for a long time—ten years—and went off doing all kinds of different British television programs, and I love my craft, really, when I think about it. I did a lot of British television, and that experience in front of the camera taught me how the whole thing works, really.

Is that one of the perks of success, that you get the courage to say, “this costume isn’t right” or “I need this to work”?

CO: Yeah, and that’s why I’m always wary when someone says, “oh, they’re difficult to work with,” Are they difficult because they care? Are they difficult because they say “I need to be difficult, because I think this is important to what I need to do”? Sure, if you have a bit of success, people listen to you, and it’s tougher for people who haven’t [had that success] to have those fights. But as an actor you just want to create space to do your thing as well as you can, and as long as you don’t abuse that position—which some people might—I think it’s a good thing.

Under what circumstances are you willing to be difficult with the small people?

CO: Well, something like if someone’s trying to put me in clothes that don’t feel right. Ultimately, any director who is worth it knows that they need to put actors in a place where they feel ready to go to work to the best of their capabilities. Of course, if there’s a crazy actor who wants something so out of kilter with the rest of the vision of the film, that’s slightly ridiculous, but I will be very clear about things that I think need to be right.

What appeals to you about these hardball characters like in Sin City, and Mr. Smith?

CO: To be honest with you, it would be a lie to say there’s not a little boy in me that loves to have crazy shootouts with other guys. There’s a bit of me that finds it all a lot of fun.

Scott Hicks was telling me that he’s got a film that he’s doing with you [The Boys Are Back in Town], that it’s a true story.

CO: It’s about a British journalist, a sports journalist, living in Australia, who has to write a book about his whole experience. His wife dies of cancer, and he’s left with his seven-year-old boy, but he’s been working a lot and it’s about him and the little boy both grieving and creating this new family. You follow them for a little while, and then he gets a phone call from his teenaged son from a previous marriage in Britain, who says “I want to come out and get to know my dad”. So suddenly the dynamic is him, his strange teenage son, and his little seven-year-old.

Where are you shooting?

CO: I‘m not sure, exactly, I think it might be near Brisbane.

Are you looking forward to going there?

CO: I am very excited, and I’m going to make it a whole family experience. I’ve wanted to go for a long time.

How long will you be away for?

CO: Probably a couple of months.

What scene in Shoot Em Up would you say was the most challenging for you?

CO: It was the physical challenges that were the biggest. I would have to say it’s the skydiving—hanging on wires day after day, being dropped at high spends, and being twisted and turned.

And having to look like you weren’t scared!

CO: And having to look like you knew exactly what you were doing as you were hurtling down towards the ground.

Did you ever get really scared?

CO: No. It’s always been very safely, thoroughly worked out.

I know that Michael wants to try and do another one; he’s written a script he thinks he can sort of re-tool. Would you be willing to jump back on board?

CO: Yeah. Obviously we want to see how this one goes, but I’ve read that script, and it makes Shoot Em Up look like a family movie. It’s in danger of not getting permitted.

Because of the amount of violence in it, or the combination of violence and sex…?

CO: It’s the combination of violence, sex, and just…it’s just absolutely wild. It pushes the whole envelope of Shoot Em Up, too, to a complete other level.