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How We Met: STEPHEN POLIAKOFF AND CLIVE OWEN
Newspaper Name Independent
Date - Sunday, April 19, 1998
Author INTERVIEWS ISABEL LLOYD

The actor Clive Owen, 33, was brought up in Coventry (largely by his mother; he was 19 when he met his father) and studied at Rada. He found fame in ITV's drama, `Chancer', but has gone on to less mainstream work, including `Closer', `Bent' and, for Stephen Poliakoff, `Close My Eyes' and `Century'. He lives in London with his wife, the actress Sarah- Jane Fenton, and their baby. Playwright and film-maker Stephen Poliakoff, 45, was born in London, the son of a Russian Jewish immigrant and an English actress. He left Cambridge University when his first play was staged at the Traverse Theatre. His plays and films include `Sweet Panic', `Close My Eyes' and `Century'. He lives in London with his wife, the writer Sandy Welch, and their two children.

STEPHEN POLIAKOFF: The very first time I saw Clive was on television, in Chancer. I thought he was very good in it - but a bit flash, you know. Then in 1990, he came to see me at my house while I was casting the part of the incestuous brother for Close My Eyes. I hadn't been in a hurry to see him for the part: I was a little prejudiced, because I thought that such a beautiful man was a) going to be stupid and b) I thought I needed a real theatre actor - someone who'd played Hamlet, rather than someone who was starring in an ITV series. But I was amazed how bright he was, and how funny. It even turned out he'd played Romeo at the Young Vic - so all my prejudices were overturned.

Because he is beautiful, and big, and also working class, people make the assumption that he'll be slightly lumbering, or an obvious Jack the lad, or vain - a lot of male actors are very, very vain - but Clive is not.

I don't think I was as guilty of those prejudices as some - but his wit, his humour, and the fact that he was interested in the same sort of things as I was did surprise me.

After I`d cast CME, I took Clive and Saskia Reeves, his co-star, out to lunch. I remember looking across the table at them and they were both looking absolutely terrified across the salad - well, not terrified but both shy, nervous and quite silent - and I thought, "God we start in two weeks! I've got to somehow pump their confidence up." But Close My Eyes was an exciting time, us all starting out on an adventure together, in this gorgeous hot summer. And it was quite a dramatic, intense piece of work to forge a close relationship in.

We didn't socialise much during the shoot, but we did have a very memorable weekend a bit later when we went to the Edinburgh Film Festival for the premiere. We went for this walk around Edinburgh, Clive and me, and got lost in the festival crowd. The second series of Chancer was going out, so Clive was at the peak of his fame, and I got a wonderful insight into what it's like to be a well-known sex symbol - which is not something I'm ever likely to experience again. Everyone from a traffic warden we stopped to ask the way, to people hanging round the Assembly Rooms, would say: "Ooh! You're Chancer!" People called out from cars! But it was very relaxed - he found it funny. Also the film was showing that night and I was worried, as always, that no one would come, so I thought we might as well do some business. So I would say, "Tell the traffic warden to come to the film!" We ended up after the showing in some bizarre nightclub - with absolutely no food, and I was starving - along with the actor Dave Thewlis, and his ex-agent the tiny Michael Foster. So there was these two huge tall boys and two little Jewish people, and I'm starving and people are still coming up to Clive . . . Eventually I had to leave to search for food, and I left these two tall boys together surveying the talent. That was a giddy weekend.

Since then we meet at regular intervals. We don't see each other huge amounts, but there's a chemistry when we do - I find Clive very life-enhancing. He is a terribly intelligent man, and very, very funny - he's a great mimic, a great raconteur. He's a very
accurate observer of what's funny about showbusiness - but it's not malicious. What I like is that he almost has a writer's eye for what is interesting and memorable. I've had no bad times with Clive, though both films I've done with him have been difficult. His worst quality? Well, he did become, understandably, very suspicious of the press because of the Chancer thing.

So the one time I was cross with him was when the video of Close My Eyes was coming out, Wogan wanted him for the dying days of his chat show. That would have been a great chance for him to promote the film - but he wouldn't, because it would be about his dad. Fear of the press is understandable, but I somehow don't think Wogan would have torn his private life to shreds!

Of all the actors that have been in my work, he's the one I'm closest to. There's never been that boss/employee sort of relationship and we will have more shared experience, more of a link, now we both have children. So I think we'll still be friends in 20 years time - we'll be doing something interesting - some interesting work, I like to think a bit like Alan Bates and Simon Gray!

CLIVE OWEN: I remember getting the script for Close My Eyes and thinking it was fantastic. But I thought I probably wouldn't get the part, because I was in the middle of doing Chancer at the time and that was such a different sort of thing. Close My Eyes was really intelligent, so I didn't think I was in with a serious shout - but I went to meet Stephen at his house in Islington anyway. He ended up interviewing me three times. My first impression was that he was frighteningly bright; I think I was probably a bit intimidated by him. Ideas tend to come from everywhere with Stephen, he's very instinctive and quick. And yes, intimidatingly bright. I didn't think about whether we'd become friends; but I knew he would be worth me working with. I could tell very quickly that I liked his taste - he didn't likephoney acting. And I liked it that when he gave me the job he just took what he saw - he wasn't influenced by my TV work, he just saw the actor for the job.

We next met in rehearsals for Close My Eyes, which were quite hard work.

I remember thinking, "Oh God, I've got my work cut out here." It was difficult, challenging; but in a good way. Rehearsals were fun, but you were there for a purpose, not like other rehearsals I've been in - you were very much there to work. Because he'd written the piece, I was on dodgy ground all the time - because I knew he was absolutely certain of what he wanted from me. It's quite difficult working with a writer-director for that reason, because you don't come together and look for a common interpretation, you try and get it right for him.

We didn't socialise much during that shoot because it was so quick (only six weeks) - it was all work. But I do remember going up to the Edinburgh Film Festival with him for the premiere. We went up on the train. People would pass me in the carriage and go: "Oh, it's . . . you know, Chancer." I was being a bit sort of coy and shy about it; but Stephen kept saying, "Oh come on, you love it! Everybody I know who's famous loves it, don't they?" I'd say, "No, Stephen, that's not necessarily true you know", and he'd go, "Oh come on!" But my strongest memory of that trip is of trying to get a drink somewhere and ending up with him and my agent in this nightclub, seeing Stephen on a bar stool, in this crazy Edinburgh club, playing with his straw. He hates pubs, hates sitting in pubs.

Between filming Close My Eyes and Century, every few months we'd meet and go to some little restaurant, the sort of place he'd like - always near his house, because he doesn't like being out of London. I suppose you could say he's a bit like Woody Allen like that - won't leave the city. He didn't get twitchy during Close My Eyes because that was filmed on home ground, but a lot of Century was filmed in Liverpool, and I think he felt a bit nervous about that.

There was a period when I didn't want anything to do with newspapers, and that actually became a bit of an issue between us. Once the tabloids realised that I was doing a film about incest . . . well, I remember a headline in the Sun along the lines of: "Clive Owen in sex shock horror". I think Steve thought it was fantastic. But I didn`t do an awful lot of publicity for Close My Eyes, though I was asked to, and Stephen was never very happy
about that. In fact, when I did Century he rang me up and said that he was only going to offer me the part if I did publicity. Then when it came to it, I was quietly saying no to everything and getting away with it - and then I got a call from Stephen who said, "You know you promised you'd do publicity, you've got to do something. You've got to do this for me. You've got to go on The Word!" I had half an hour of Stephen shouting at me on the phone saying, "It`s important publicity, they'll show loads of clips, you've just got to sit on the sofa with Terry Christian. I'll comewith you!" In the end we compromised: I did Richard & Judy. I'm a huge admirer of his work. He writes about what matters to him, and I think he's a breath of fresh air. Along with all that he's incredibly straight and honest. He's quite simple, in a way, very down to earth. He's certainly eccentric - he's so flooded with ideas, always flying around, changing tack, coming up with an idea, bursting out laughing. He has his own pace - you just make sure you don't get whipped up by it. I don't see him as a
mentor, though he came along at an important time in my career. I could easily have become "Mr prime-time television", and Stephen giving me the opportunity he did opened things out for me enormously. I'm still, to some extent, reaping the benefits. And I've still got more to learn from him.