Ten in the morning in a posh London hotel suite and the actor usually defined as "the hard man of British film" is tucking into a bacon sandwich and talking fondly of acting with his daughter in his latest film Last Orders.

He is neatly turned out in suit and tie, is handshakingly polite and, only towards the end of the interview, does the odd four-letter words pass his lips.

This is in sharp contrast to the image of Ray Winstone that we usually see on screen, in movies like Sexy Beast and Nil By Mouth, and TV series including Births, Deaths And Marriages.

The former amateur boxer is most closely identified with tough guy roles, despite occasional detours into lighter territory, such as Kay Mellor's romantic comedy Fanny And Elvis. Winstone doesn't much subscribe to the idea that careers can be shaped according to the will of an actor.

"It might be bollocks what I'm going to say, but I don't think you can say, 'I'm going to do a musical or I'm going to do a love story'. Fanny And Elvis was just something that came along and I liked the idea of it," he says.

Two very different projects, both on view in coming weeks, show he's more than a tough nut on film. Last Orders teams him with Michael Caine, Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren, David Hemmings and Tom Courtenay in an adaptation of Graham Swift's Booker Prize-winning novel about four men honouring their friend's dying wish to have his ashes thrown off the pier at Margate.

Then, there's the terrestrial TV debut of the Tim Roth-directed drama The War Zone, in which Winstone stars as a father who sexually abuses his daughter.

In Last Orders, Winstone is the dead man's son, which means he's playing Caine's offspring. He admits to a little apprehension at working with actors he'd watched since he was a child. "And then there was the thought that I might turn up and find all these people were really horrible. But they were diamonds, absolute diamonds," he says.

"Michael Caine opened the door for us, when you think of Alfie. Yet, in Zulu, he was the posh one. But there he is, this bloke from south London who worked in the meat market. Even if you were a kid from Liverpool that made a difference.

"It was like me watching Albert Finney in Saturday Night And Sunday Morning or Richard Harris in This Sporting Life: they were geezers like us suddenly making films."

Shooting Last Orders, which follows the friends on their journey to Margate, by car, was a laugh. Courtenay, in particular, was always winding up Winstone. "When we were in Margate some youngsters were coming up and asking me for my autograph. There I was, with all this mob, and Tom had his mac on and a cap, and he slid up behind these kids waiting for me and said, 'I played Lear you know'. I had so much fun with these geezers, stuck in the car all day. And they do love a story."

His own daughter, Lois, 19, plays his screen daughter in a brief scene, something he describes as "a nightmare". All he had to do was throw keys to her. When he did it, she told him, "dad, you don't throw keys like that". He couldn't help but agree. "She was right," he admits. "I was looking after her so much I couldn't think about what I was supposed to be doing. When she first came on set, I thought that I wouldn't tell anyone that it was my daughter. Then you'd see all the crew leering and I'd say, 'that's my daughter'. They'd say, 'Ray, we didn't know'. Complete nightmare. But she was blinding, that was the first thing she'd ever done."

Winstone has three daughters: Lois, Jaime, 16, and an eight-month old baby girl, Ellie Rae, a family situation that must have made doing The War Zone particularly hard.

He was careful to tell them about it, because what he does affects his wife and his children at school. "I took them to meet Lara Belmont, who plays my daughter in the film. You have a responsibility to your children," he says.

"They used to go to the National Theatre, when I was appearing there, and strip off to their vests and knickers watching the play. At half-time they'd come into the dressing room. It's what you do. That's what I have always done and that's what they've seen."

He says that Tim Roth, making his directorial debut, didn't want him in The War Zone at first. Winstone persisted because he so wanted the role. "These are the blokes who stand next to you in the pub. It's the only time I really played me. I wanted you to like the guy and think, 'this is my dad and my brother'. So you feel uncomfortable because you like the guy."

Given his success, it's surprising that he hasn't headed for Hollywood. While agreeing that movies are an international business, he's not so keen on the idea of going to Hollywood and living there. "I couldn't have my kids growing up there," he says. "I've been there, I love it. I've got mates there. But I've no interest in living there, punting my wares around. That'd drive me up the wall.

"I don't care where it is though, you just go and make a film as far as I'm concerned. Hollywood? Cricklewood, more like. Or Bollywood - having a couple of weeks in Goa, in the sun, doing the surf. That'd do me."

* Last Orders (15) is in cinemas now. The War Zone is on Channel 4 on Tuesday at 11.35pm.