Clive Owen was completely familiar with the story of "Closer" before he was cast in Mike Nichols' film. Owen appeared in the original London stage production of "Closer," though during that run, he actually played the character Jude Law plays in the movie.

Citing his love of playwright Patrick Marber's material, Clive Owen considers being able to be involved in the movie version of "Closer" 'a real treat.' And getting to take on a different character from the play was like being handed a special present. "It was like starting all over again because when you play a part you see the whole thing through that character's perspective. Now I had to reevaluate everything that I thought when I originally did it, switch everything around and see it from Larry's point of view," explains Owen.

"Closer" follows the interwoven story of four strangers. Their lives, their loves, and their betrayals are all exposed with brutal honesty in this intensely adult look at contemporary relationships. Based on Patrick Marber's play (and adapted for the screen by Marber), "Closer" stars Owen, Natalie Portman, Jude Law, and Julia Roberts, and is directed by Mike Nichols ("Angels in America"). As Marber describes it, "Closer" is really a love story. "It's about other things of course - sexual jealousy, the male gaze, the lies we tell ourselves and those we are most intimate with, the ways in which people find themselves through using others. But in the end, it's a nice simple love story. And as with most love stories, things go wrong..."

In this interview, the scene-stealing Clive Owen discusses working on "Closer," his take on the character of 'Larry', filming "Sin City" with Robert Rodriguez, and those pesky James Bond rumors:

- INTERVIEW WITH CLIVE OWEN ('Larry'):

• How difficult is it to generate all these feelings on set and then put them all away?
  I think, ultimately, the unusual thing about doing a piece like this is because the scenes are so long, this is from a play and the scenes are so long, it just requires a lot of concentration. In terms of the emotional thing, it’s like you absorb the piece, we talk about the piece, you work the piece, and then at the end of the day you come and you try and go to those places. It just demands maybe more concentration than other [projects].

• Do you think Larry really cheated on his wife while he was in New York?
  I personally think he did, yeah. Why is that? I don't know. It’s not in the movie, I don't know.

• Is it vicious the way your character traps Jude Law’s character?
  It’s also one of the funniest scenes in the film. I don’t see it to be vicious at all.

• Was there a big difference between the stage version and the screen version?
  I suppose it was different. When you do the original production, when you’re doing a play like that, it’s very hard to know how it’s going to go down on the audience. You rehearse the play, and it was Patrick [Marber’s] second play, and we didn’t really know what we had until you put it out there in front of an audience. And then I think the most striking memory was the fact that it starts off very much…it’s very sweet, it’s very romantic, it’s full of possibilities, full of hope. And the feeling within the theater and the audience is that it’s very witty, it’s romantic, and then by the end of the first half when Larry is laying into Anna, there’s a feeling of, “Oh my God, how did I end up here?” And that was hugely powerful in the theater. You thought, “My God.” And then once you’ve done that, then obviously the second half of the play, you were then free to explore all sorts of things as people find themselves in an unusual place. But as regards to the difference between, I’m sort of one of those weird actors who whenever I do a play, I think, “Oh, we should film this.” As opposed to have to belt it out of ourselves in a theater auditorium. So it became unusually even more insular on camera, I found. And having watched it it becomes even, to some extent, more powerful than the theater because it’s hugely intimate. It’s scenes between two people sharing various sorts of things, and when you’ve got very intense scenes between two people and you feel that involved in a certain amount of time, it’s very powerful. So in some ways, I find it more intimate than the theater experience.

• Why did you decide to play Larry instead of Dan, the role you did on stage?
  Well, one, I'm that much older so I don't think Dan was ever an option. And Jude [Law] was already cast as Dan in the movie, so I was thrilled. I think it's four fantastic parts, a great piece of writing. To be involved in any way was hugely exciting for me.

• On "Closer," "Sin City" and James Bond

• Did you rely on "Closer" director Mike Nichols to help you feel comfortable playing this character?
  I think just working with someone so smart and so lovely, you feel in very, very good hands. So you sort of do anything. I think that’s probably why we love him so much, because you just feel very secure. You know if it’s going awry, he’ll put you on the right path and you trust him implicitly that you’re just in very, very good hands.

• In your opinion, why did Larry want to know all the details of what went on sexually between his wife and her lover?
  Within this piece, I think it is… That is one of the things that Patrick’s dealing with in the piece. He’s looking at that male thing of not only winning the girl but making sure you kill the guy as well.

• How was working on “Sin City?”
  It was extraordinary. It was Robert Rodriguez, who is like [a] Renaissance man, really. He's a complete one-of. I've never met anyone quite like him. He does absolutely everything. He shoots, he edits, he operates, he lights, he composes the music. He's the most amazing cook. He really pissed me off. It's an extraordinary project. He's doing this strip, cartoon, picture book, Frank Miller thing [i.e. graphic novel] and he's been so faithful. He re-creates image by image by image. To us, it was very weird. We were just standing in [front of] a sort of green screen every day, and everything else will be added. It was an extraordinary experience, but my most overwhelming memory is how hugely impressive the whole thing he's got going down there in Texas is.

• Which story are you in? Who do you play?
  I'm in "The Big, Fat Kill." Dwight.

• How do you feel about the Oscar buzz associated with “Closer?”
  It's just lovely to be involved in a movie that does go back to the basics: characters, great writing. It's unusual. You forget, really. You go back to those films of the '40s and '50s and hear the dialogue, the way the people played off each other, the wordplay. I think we've really lost that in movies. It's very unusual to hear fantastic dialogue, to hear intelligent people interacting. And to do that in this piece is hugely exciting and to be involved in a film for adults. It's an adult movie. It's about adults relating, about adults having sex. It's for grownups and I think that all of that is very exciting.

• Mike Nichols says you'd make a great James Bond. What do you think about that?
  What do I think about that? I don't really think about that. I just never really think about it. The Bond rumors have been circulating for a while and that's all they are. I learned a long time ago not to waste time thinking about things that [are rumored]. [Indicating his “Closer” co-star, Jude Law] We'll do it together.

- Rebecca Murray from About