Thandie's law

With a regular role in ER under her belt, a bit of Mission Impossible action alongside Tom Cruise on her CV, together with a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress in Crash – and a degree in anthropology – Thandie Newton is one of our more interesting homegrown stars. This week she can be seen being rather underhand in Guy Richie’s new gangster flick Rocknrolla...

So, tell us a little about Stella. She's a real charmer, isn't she?
She's not a sweetheart, it's true. I think she's very bored of what she does and, for whatever dark and mysterious reasons, she puts other people at risk and creates a lot of turmoil and setting opposing groups against one another. You've got the old school London gangsters on the one hand, the Russian oligarchs on the other, and she creates a situation where they end up hurting each other quite horribly. And she seems to enjoy it. It's terrible!

It's not the usual Thandie Newton role - if there is such a thing. Was it that chance to play against type that appealed?
Mmm.. partly. I wanted to work with Guy, I’d met him and we talked about the project and I loved the sound of it, and loved his energy. I really wanted to work with him, it was shooting in London, I liked the other cast members so they were pulling together, and there it was.

As far as us evil media types are concerned, Guy appears to be under a certain amount of pressure to deliver.
Is he?

I think so…
Are you going to help him out…?!

Maybe…! Was there any sense of that pressure on set?
Oh no. The only thing I ever heard Guy say was ‘I just want to have some fun.’ He wanted to enjoy his job, his profession and we did.

There’s clearly a very blokey ensemble spirit in the film. How was it for you as pretty much the only woman?
I loved it. I was mainly working with Gerard Butler, and it was fantastic. We’re all vulnerable actors putting our emotions out there and that levels everybody out at the get go and it was a lovely group of people, all of whom were thrilled to work for Guy. You’ve got Tom Wilkinson, you’ve got actors you’ve never heard of, and we were all absolutely the same, earnestly trying to get this movie done in six weeks. You wouldn’t believe that this glossy, beautiful movie, that’s so beautifully crafted, has been made incredibly quickly and on a fairly low budget and I do think that’s because everyone was pulling together and having fun, energised by Guy having fun. And it was a great script.

And you get to dance...
Yeah... well, kind of un-dance. I trained to dance for years and years and this was just delicious being able to throw it all away and just flop about, with this deadpan face. Guy demonstrated how he wanted it, what he wanted from the scene and I got it straight away, I could just visualise this kind of floppy, puppet dancing with the dead pan face and these little whispers of dialogue. It was great.

So is there any tape of Guy dancing?
Noooo. Mind you, if there was, he's good. He's really good. That's because he's a martial arts expert. Well, not expert, but that's his thing and he's very good at it. You can tell he knows how to move.

And there's the potential for dance lessons at home...
I doubt that very much...!

So the next time we see you, you’ll be Condoleezza Rice in W, Oliver Stone’s biopic. Was there much difference between Guy’s directing style and Mr Stone’s?
Ha! Loads! Loads, loads, loads… I was surrounded by men. Again. The Bush administration, there’s a lot of guys. I suppose in some ways RocknRolla prepared me for that but it’s a very different kind of movie. I think RocknRolla is entertainment, W, as much as I’m sure Oliver wants it to be entertaining, is a bit more insightful.

And finally, on behalf of my wife and, indeed, women everywhere, is Gerard Butler as sexy in real life?
He's a sweetheart. I’m sorry but that for me is very sexy. He’s a very playful sweetheart. He’s got a great sense of humour, and his temper only comes out in his characters. He’s pretty great really. So yes. He’s one for the girls definitely. I fully approve.