Clive Owen On Avoiding The British Agent Cliche In 'Shadow Dancer' And His Own Memories Of Irish Troubles The Huffington Post UK |

Clive Owen plays Mac in 'Shadow Dancer', here seen recruiting Collette McVeigh (Andrea Riseborough)

Clive Owen is a Brit undoubtedly done well in Hollywood, acclaimed for his versatility ('Closer', 'Children of Men', 'The Bourne Identity'), most recently for his Golden Globe-nominated turn with Nicole Kidman in the HBO telemovie 'Hemingway and Gelhorn'.

But he was persuaded to return to the genre he's probably most associated with, that of the political thriller for the lead role in 'Shadow Dancer', adapted by ITN News Correspondent Tom Bradby from his own novel.


Owen plays Mac, a weary British agent, responsible for running informers at the height of the Troubles in 1990s Northern Ireland. This brings him into contact with Collette (Andrea Riseborough on top form), who is tasked with betraying her family if she wants her own freedom.

Here, Owen explains how the Irish Troubles affected him personally, and the sympathies he feels for his own character caught in a no-win situation...

What were your views on the British-Irish conflict as a young man, living in the UK at the time the film is set?

Well, obviously I grew up with it being part of our lives and that threat being in the air and every night hearing some report on the news about the Troubles in Northern Ireland. I actually went to Belfast during that time. I did a play and stayed in Belfast for a week during the Troubles and it was rough, it was a war zone. And it was only when I went into the production office for this film and saw all the pictures they'd put on the wall from that time that I was like, "Wow, they've come a long way." Because it's not that long ago and it was a very different place then.


READ MORE: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/01/18/clive-owen-shadow-dancer-northern-ireland_n_2501532.html?utm_hp_ref=uk

Clive Owen won't let daughters see Closer (THE PRESS ASSOCIATION)

Clive Owen doesn't want his daughters to ever see his film Closer, no matter how old they are.

The Sin City star played a misogynistic womaniser in the racy film, co-starring Julia Roberts and Natalie Portman, and wouldn't want his children with actress Sarah-Jane Fenton - Hannah, 15, and Eve, 13 - to see him like that.

"I don't care if they're 35, I don't want them to see that one," quotes the Daily Telegraph.

Meanwhile, the 47-year-old Children Of Men star has confessed he hates fame.

Clive complained to the Daily Mail's Live magazine: "I never wanted to be a movie star. And I didn't become an actor to become famous. I genuinely didn't. It was always theatre for me.

"Chancer (the 90s TV show in which he made his name) was a baptism of fire. It's very weird to go from obscurity to suddenly being in newspapers.



READ MORE: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5hZ3cmbKMZp5hrvSJ_q2MdxoOJnVw?docId=N0439501344861149033A

Clive Owen, actor and star of Shadow Dancer (SCOTSMAN)

Clive Owen. Picture: Carlo Allegri/AP

By JAMES MOTTRAM
Published on Sunday 12 August 2012 11:14


WHEN fame first came knocking for Clive Owen, he was ill-prepared for the unwanted attention it brought to his private life. This time round, the laid-back star is taking it in his stride

There’s something very reassuring about Clive Owen. Such is the aura of quiet confidence he carries, you can imagine him being very calm in a crisis, unflappable even. It’s just after 2pm when he arrives in the hotel room for interview, dressed in a navy suit and white shirt, unbuttoned to reveal a silver chain nestling around his neck. He has a pot of tea delivered. And he speaks in such a warm baritone voice, you can’t help but be instantly soothed. Ridiculously, ruggedly handsome, his features make a mockery of the fact he turns 48 in October.

Owen also seems remarkably together for a man who has glided in and out of Hollywood with ease, in films like Sin City, The Bourne Identity and King Arthur (in which he played the round-table legend). Owen doesn’t really do scandal, doesn’t do tittle-tattle and doesn’t seem to carry an inflated idea of his own image. The Times called him “the first male movie star this country has produced since Cary Grant” (with, presumably, apologies to Jude Law). Others have pegged him as a pin-up. “If I went around thinking I was a sex symbol,” Owen purrs, “I’d be on very dodgy ground.”

It took Julia Roberts to nail it, though. The two starred in Closer, Mike Nichols’ searing take on Patrick Marber’s play of sexual misadventure, before reuniting for espionage romance Duplicity. “George Clooney is obsessed with Clive,” she explained. “Every good-guy actor talks about Clive as one of their favourites. Because he’s English, because his successes have stood on the shoulders of his talents alone, and because he hasn’t been carried away by popular culture.” Playing an arrogant version of himself on Ricky Gervais’s comedy show Extras is about as far as Owen has got when it comes to getting carried away by popular culture.

His latest film, Shadow Dancer, is arguably his best role since 2006’s apocalyptic Children of Men. Directed by James Marsh, who made the Oscar-winning documentary Man on Wire, it’s a taut drama based on true events. Set in 1990s Belfast, it tells the story of Colette McVeigh (Andrea Riseborough), an active member of the IRA who is forced to turn informant in order to protect her son. “I just think it’s a great predicament to start a movie with,” says Owen. “She’s given an option: you never see your kid again and spend a long time in prison, or you come and work for us.”

READ MORE: http://www.scotsman.com/scotland-on-sunday/scotland/interview-clive-owen-actor-and-star-of-shadow-dancer-1-2463917