Clive Owen started his acting career in 1987, playing a plain-clothes police officer in one episode of BBC TV police drama Rockcliffe’s Babies.
Within three years, he was playing the lead role in another TV drama, Chancer, and the offers for bigger projects were beginning to roll in. However, in an about-turn, Owen turned down the opportunity of the third series of Chancer amid fears that his private life was becoming invaded by the media.
This decision set his screen career back a few years, but he continued to tread the boards and accepted a few roles in television mini-series and TV movies. But it was the stage that gave him his big break after starring in Closer in London, and it led to a part in Mike Hodges’ film Croupier. From there, there was no looking back for the Warwick-born actor.
He worked with Robert Altman on the cult classic Gosford Park, with Matt Damon in the first of the Jason Bourne trilogy, The Bourne Identity and the title role in action and adventure drama King Arthur, in 2004. Later that same year, he was in the film version of the stage play, which got him noticed for Closer, and he received an Oscar nomination.
Owen’s first big award came two years later when he won a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor for his role alongside Denzel Washington in Inside Man and followed that up with Children of Men, opposite Julianne Moore and Michael Caine, which is the film he is probably best known for.
In his newest film, Owen plays the role of violin prodigy Dovidl in The Song of Names is the story of two boys brought together on the eve of World War II, Martin (played by Tim Roth as an adult and Gerran Howell from 17-21) and Dovidl (Owen and Jonah Hauer-King 17-23).
With Dovidl’s family trapped in Poland, the two boys form a symbiotic relationship, so close that they hardly know where one persona begins and the other ends. Martin sees in Dovidl a brilliance that illuminates his existence. Dovidl sees Martin as a common-sensible mediator with the plodding world—or does he?
On the eve of his long-awaited international debut for violin performance, Dovidl disappears. The family business is destroyed, and Martin spends the next 40 years searching for the missing part of himself, unable to come to terms with his feelings of abandonment and betrayal.
Then, at a provincial music competition, he hears a young boy play as only Dovidl could have. How did he learn that technique? The revelation sets him on the trail to an astounding act of self-discovery and renewal. Martin finally finds his lost friend, changed in ways that he could never have imagined.
STRIPLV: What was your preparation like for a film of this nature – The Song of Names? Do you have any previous background with classical music? OWEN: I have no previous work with classical music at all. The director of the film, Francois Girard, came to me and we had a chat about me doing this film. At that point, he didn’t actually have the character who sort of guides the viewer through the story. But Francois told me that the character that he wanted me to play, Dovidl, was just as important because he is the guy that they are looking for throughout the film. When I saw the script and I started going through everything with Francois, I knew that it would be a huge amount of work, as well as preparation to be ready for it. Francois promised me that if I did my part, he would make me look good for the part and the movie. The great thing about being an actor is that there are so many routes around this business and so many different stories. Things that you may not know anything about before you go into it, and you don’t have to have a huge amount of prior knowledge for it. When you lay eyes on that script, and you begin to immerse yourself in a whole new environment and landscape that you can suddenly become aware of. That’s the magnificent beast, and the fortunate thing about being in this industry is all about. STRIPLV: A lot is made of the end of the film, when you are performing a song, not just with quality but with meaning. There could have been a danger that, if this were not in the right hands, it could have ended up not being as thought-provoking or certainly far more histrionic. OWEN: Well, you can thank the director for that because I just did what he asked me and told me that he wanted from me. I am what people would call a director’s actor, and although I do have faith in my own ability, I am going through many takes, and we all make sure that everyone involved and everything going on is correct. There is editing, the way that film is presented, the way that it is put together by the crew, the cast, and the director, amongst others is what truly affects the final outcome and all of the hard work and effort which has gone into the project. STRIPLV: How can you make it look so realistic? As if it’s actually you who is playing the violin? OWEN: What do you mean? It is me! (Laughs) No, we were given direction for the musical numbers by a guy who gave lessons to me and the other two ages of my character. So, for a lot of the time, I was working with Jonah Hauer-King, who plays Dovidl between the ages of 17 and 23. There was also a solo violinist who was helping us along the way, and we strived to be as realistic as possible in the opportunity and timeframe that we had, to try and reflect and portray a character as elite as Dovidl is. The rehearsals and script read-throughs were good, and I think we were as accurate as we could have been during those, but then, the closer we got to shooting for real, the more I realized how authentic this was going to need to be. The work that we had done – as you would do for every part that you play, especially in a drama – and I felt that we had got the emotion of everything just right. But when you are then doing this in front of a camera and performing it for people who have to be sold that this character is a world-class classical musician, it became obvious to me that the shape and form had to be spot on. Because there will be people who will watch the film for a variety of different reasons, you have to make it as genuine as possible and that you belong there. STRIPLV: What was it like working with Tim Roth? How much work did you do together on the film? OWEN: Unfortunately, not a huge amount. We would talk together about the scenes coming up, and we would also sit down and speak with the director about different things, as well. But in the main, everything was geared towards the final climactic scene, and that was something which was right at the forefront of everything for me doing this film. However, we didn’t really set aside time for discussing it a huge amount before we came to filming it. What you see on the screen is pretty much the way that it worked, and we both went into our starting positions and then filmed it in one full night. STRIPLV: You’ve been in the TV and movie industry on-screen for over 30 years now. Do you get much time to watch movies yourself, like the rest of us? What’s your favorite film? OWEN: I do, try to make as much time as I can, yeah. There is a place called Harwich in the county of Essex, and it’s home to one of the oldest cinemas in the UK, and I try and mention it when I get the chance, with me actually being the patron of the cinema theatre. My in-laws and their family live not far from this cinema, and it’s a community-run place with volunteers and the same old ticket booth it had when it was built, at the front of the theatre. Years and years ago, we went to see the film Moonstruck, starring Cher and Nicholas Cage, and this was on a weekend, so a Saturday night. What was funny was, as we were waiting for the showing to begin, we suddenly looked around and noticed that there were only the two of us in there. A guy came up to us and said: “I’m terribly sorry, but we don’t go ahead with showing the film unless there are at least six people in the audience.” So, having a quick-as-lightning answer, I came straight back at him and said that we would like to see the film and if I have to, I will pay for six people to see it. The guy goes away and then comes back a few minutes later and says: “No, don’t worry. The projectionist will screen the film for you.” That meant that we were left in this absolutely amazing establishment and the oldest cinema in the country, watching Moonstruck, with just each other for company!” STRIPLV: I believe that talent runs in your family and that your daughters could also be bringing more fame to the Owen household… including another music-related bit of fame. OWEN: (Laughs) Yeah, my oldest daughter Hannah is training to be a director at film school, and she is doing really well, at the moment and in 2020, my younger daughter Eve is a musician, and she has an album coming out next year. Eve has also been singing with my favorite band of all-time, The National. So, that is weird for me to hear my daughter being lead vocals on one of the tracks on their album, after playing some stuff with them in the studio. She’s pretty much the first person in our family to go into music after choosing her own path through life. I am so happy that it’s working out for her, and it makes me so proud, especially as she is working with a band that I love and respect so much.