He won't say whether he fancies being the next James Bond, but everything else appears to be falling into place for British actor Clive Owen. He talks to Steve Pratt about his rising fame in the US, which led to a part in star-filled movie Sin City, and why he was genuinely surprised when he saw the finished project.

CLIVE Owen displays all the skills of a politician squirming out of answering a question when the subject of James Bond is raised. The actor, who made his name in the ITV drama series Chancer, is constantly mentioned in connection with the search for a new 007. Coventry-born Owen is a leading contender to take over as the shaken-not-stirred secret agent following his lead role in the Hollywood epic King Arthur, and an Oscar nomination and Golden Globe award for the drama Closer.

But would he accept if he was offered the role of James Bond? "It's only ever been rumoured, there's been no substantiation. I'm pretty booked out for the next year," he says, dodging a direct answer.

Reporters aren't the only ones who notice his evasion. Even director Robert Rodriguez, sitting next to him at the interview, points out: "That's not the question. It was 'if you were offered the part'."

Still that doesn't produce an answer, just a "some ally you are" comment to Rodriguez.

There's no doubt that Owen is well-placed on the movie industry ladder to be offered the coveted role. The low budget film Croupier, virtually ignored over here, made his name in the US when Mike Hodges' movie became a sleep-burning hit in American cinemas, making people sit up and take notice of Owen.

In his latest film, Sin City, he's the lone Britain among a cast that also includes Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, Rosario Dawson, Brittany Murphy and Benicio del Toro. The film noir thriller, based on the graphic novels by Frank Miller (who co-directs with Rodriguez), has Owen as world-weary ex-gumshoe Dwight, who's caught up in the murder and mayhem of Sin City.

Owen wasn't aware of the novels before the part came along. "Robert called me up and said he was going to do this thing called Sin City. He sent me a bunch of Frank's graphic novels, he showed me this five-minute test he'd done to show Frank how faithful he was going to be to that original source material.

"He told me he was currently shooting with Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke and Benicio Del Toro were going to be in it, and Quentin Tarantino was going to pop in for a couple of days. So I thought about it for about half-a-second and jumped at it, of course."

The actors shot their scenes against green screens. The backgrounds were added through computer effects later. "It's weird for a day or so," says Owen of the green screen filming. "You're so used to using your location environment, you turn up on the set and that's a very big part of the scene you're shooting. You become part of it.

"Here you're suddenly on this green screen and you've got absolutely nothing. You're in this sort of void of nothing."

The good thing is that Miller and Rodriguez were concentrating on the actor's performance, nothing else. He thinks Miller writes great dialogue with great rhythm and humour. "It's easy to underestimate that dialogue when you read it in a bubble on a page. When you play it, you realise how good it is. Those books of his are some achievement," says the actor.

"I'm a big fan of Marlowe and Chandler, and Dwight, for me, was like some kind of Frank Miller twisted version of a classic noir character. And I think that's the root of all of Sin City. He starts there and completely bends it out of shape."

Even Owen was surprised when he saw the finished movie. "The astonishing thing when you do a film like this is that you do it for however long and Robert tells you how it will be. Then, three days before the American premiere, I go and see the movie and am completely blown away by it and have no idea I was in that movie," he says.

"The stuff that happened, after we did what we did, to the finished product is, to me, completely baffling. It's ground-breaking what's been achieved."

His own career's going well too, although he doesn't see it as a question of having to top a pretty good year by whatever he does next. "It would be wonderful if the thing continues," he says.

"For me, success has always been about trying to work with the most creative, interesting people and I've been having some fantastic opportunities. If it continues like this, I'll be nothing but grateful and thrilled.

"Getting a phone call from Robert Rodriguez inviting me to come over and join in the Sin City thing, that's the sort of thing I'm talking about. I'm welcoming those opportunities and, for me, it's about the work. It's about working with, hopefully, the best people around. I seem to be getting some fantastic opportunities and welcome them."

Despite his American success, 40-year-old Owen doesn't envisage upping roots and moving there permanently. His family - actress wife Sarah-Jane Fenton and their daughters Hannah, eight, and Eve, five - come first. "They're my priority," he says. "Any spare time I have has to be spent with the children. The most difficult thing is I have to travel a lot, but I also get a lot of free time, so perhaps I spend more time with the kids than a lot of dads."

* Sin City (18) opens in cinemas tomorrow.

* Chancer is repeated on ITV3 on Wednesday at 10pm

Published: 02/06/2005