• How did you enjoy playing King Arthur, your biggest role to date?
  I had a great time, very exciting. Before I began people were saying, 'Ooh, King Arthur. It's a big responsibility,' and so on, but I honestly went at it the same way I approach every film and character. You can't play heroic or iconic. You can only play what's in the script and hope that that supports you. And he's a complex character who's changing all the time, as he's half-Roman and at the beginning somewhat in denial of his British side.
  So as far as I know, he's still Bond and the rest is all speculation This version stresses Arthur's Welsh background. Did you feel more connected because of your own Welsh roots?
  I suppose with a name like Clive Owen I must be, but it goes back a bit. It's not that immediate with me, so I didn't honestly feel anything that special in that sense.

• How was it working with Keira Knightley?
  Fantastic. She's so young, but she's so mature. I expected her to seem much younger, but she's very smart and very centered, and you'd never believe she's still only 19. I think that, considering the spotlight she's under and everything that's happened to her, she's incredibly grounded and easy to be around. And it must be so easy to go crazy with what's going on in her life, but she's got very nice people around her, a very good family, and she's a great girl.

• How hard was it to ride on horseback?
  Really difficult, especially because I wasn't very good at horse riding when I agreed to do the movie. So I trained hard for two months, and I was pretty fearless in the end. But it wasn't easy, carrying swords and shields and so on.

• Did the movie cure you of horse riding?
  The opposite (laughs). I'm horse-mad now. I go horse riding all the time now, believe it or not, and I take my little ones. It's become a thing and I thoroughly enjoy it. I can handle pretty lively horses. I don't own any yet, but I went to Spain recently for a holiday and my kids were taught Spanish style, which is really unusual, and they're fearless about it. They love it. They don't care. It's just become something that I like to do when I'm not working. I think, 'What a nice thing for Dad to do on a Sunday. Take the little ones off,' and we just go horse riding.

• What was it like working with big names like Jude Law and Julia Roberts in your other new film, Closer?
  It was like a gift for me, working on that film and with all the people involved. Great writing, great actors, great director. Jude's fantastic, and it's brilliant casting him in his role. As for Julia, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I mean, she's probably the most famous actress in the world, and you hear all this stuff and read things, but she couldn't have been nicer to work with. She was so easy, and there was no diva attitude at all, no big entourage of assistants and publicists. I really had a great time with her.

• Would you like to do more Hollywood big-budget films?
  I like to do everything. Big movies, small movies, it's all the same process for me. The only difference is, there's a lot more hanging around and waiting on a huge film like Arthur, as there's more stunts and stuff to organise.

• Will you continue to do theatre?
  Yeah, definitely. I haven't in a while, but I'm beginning to feel the itch again.

• You've been reluctant to comment on the Bond thing, but you must be flattered that Pierce Brosnan has recommended you for the role, calling you a 'fine actor'?
  It is flattering, but there's no truth at all to all the rumours. No one's ever called me. Look, I think Pierce has been a fantastic Bond and he's completely reinvigorated that whole franchise and made a huge amount of money for the company. So as far as I know, he's still Bond and the rest is all speculation. I'm just slightly confused why they don't come out and just clear it all up and say, 'Pierce Brosnan's the man.'

- Joanne Nathan from Hang Bag