PB: Sophie Vavasseur was a real find. It goes back to Bruce Beresford and the wonderful casting directors we had in John and Ros Hubbard. I was not there at all those sessions but they sent me the tape in Los Angeles. We were having dinner - my wife, the children and I - and I said, "We're going to look at Evelyns." I had this fancy new plasma TV and I couldn't get the sound to work on it, but we put the tape in. There were about 14 girls and I knew the scene they were reading, and we had our supper watching these young girls audition. Then the camera came to this girl, Sophie Vavasseur who just had a countenance about her which had soul, vulnerability and beauty, concentration, feeling, and that was without the words. And I think she was number nine on the tape so I phoned the office the next morning and said that I thought the number nine girl was wonderful and they said that was the one they'd chosen. That's how it happened.
RJ: She was tremendous, wasn't she?
PB: She was really outstanding. And all the other girls on the tape were used in the convent. So everybody won.
RJ: One of the dangers of making a film such as this is that you could venture into the world of sentimentality very easily, especially if you're using kids in such a potent drama as this. Did you feel that that was one of Bruce's strengths, keeping it back from that?
PB: I think so. There was an almost documentary feel. His style of directing is one of great ease and he's so well-prepared with his camera and his shots, and he's just pushing you to keep it simple. And to listen. We really did have a wonderful ensemble and the day we went across the Wicklow hills, I looked and there was Sir Alan Bates in the front seat and Stephen Rea driving, Aidan Quinn and Julianna Margulies and myself, and Alan said, "It's so wonderful, it's not like acting, it's like being." So it's his style, supported by a text which had meaning.
Q2: Which acting school did you train in?
PB: I went to the Drama Centre in Chalk Farm after I decided that I wanted to be an actor and the Oval House had inspired me and filled me with a passion and a want. I realised that if I wanted to continue - I had no education and I wasn't blessed in the theatre and the world of literature, at that point I was just a great exhibitionist in street theatre...
RJ: Is it true that you were a fire-eater at one point, or is that just a myth?
PB: Yes, I did a fire-eating act. At the Oval House - this was in 1969 - there was a workshop and one night I came in to rehearse and I looked in and some guy was teaching people to fire-eat. There was a big group of people in there but I noticed that there were women and they had their tops off. So I thought I'd join in. This guy was a street performer and he was teaching us how to put the flames across the chest and the young ladies had to take their bras off - there were no bras then anyway. So I went to the workshop and I learnt how to fire-eat.
RJ: So that's still on your CV?
PB: It's still there, absolutely.
Q3: There's been speculation about the creation of a female Bond - do you have any preference as to who should be the female Bond? And would you do a cameo as a Bond boy?
PB: Bond boy. I'm flattered, my love. As I approach the great five-0, I'm deeply flattered but I've no idea. That's the great thing about the Bond movies, once the circus gears up, you come forth to make the movies and the rumours fly fast. That's the great joy, the anticipation - Is he going to come back? Who's going to be the next Bond? Who's going to be the girl? I don't know about a female Bond, though, but they are talking about Jinx - I have no idea where the development of that is. Halle Berry acquitted herself grandly in this movie and I'm sure that if they wanted to make Jinx, they could.
Q4: On set do you like to be directed in a particular kind of way, or do you have your own foibles?
PB: That's a situation where it's really the preparation that you do before you start filming. And the relationship you strike with your director. I don't really like to discuss things, I think I understand the text and if I'm doing something wrong the director will tell me, so I go to work and I get on with the job. I certainly don't like to stand around talking about it. Any problems that arise will hopefully have been taken care of prior to shooting. Of course you do find yourself in a situation where a discussion has to be had, where you've taken a wrong tack as the actor and then you hope that you have a good line of communication and understanding with the director. But if you are cast well then you really just get on with the job. Pacing. Pull back here. Push. Listen, you're rushing. You're not paying attention. Those usually come up in the first week, two weeks of filming, because of nerves, anticipation pre-empting yourself as the character.
RJ: With the advent of DVD, do you ever revisit your earlier films?
PB: Never. I don't have any joy in looking at the work - I'll see it if I have to - but once it's done, I move on to the next one.
RJ: It's amazing what that technology enables you to do. I just watched Dante's Peak, which I didn't remember that well but it was pretty good movie, Roger Donaldson did a brilliant job on that one.
PB: Roger did a great job and he had known me prior to James Bond and he was a good mate and he offered me this part. I really enjoyed doing it. I put in some great fishing on that film, because it took so long to do the set up. There are huge plates to be made, so you'd go to work at 7 or 8 o'clock in the morning and, in the first week, I wouldn't see a camera until 3 in the afternoon. So I got a good fishing rod, walkie-talkie, and I'd go downriver, in costume. Then they'd call me and I'd go up and do my volcanic acting and then get the children and the dog.
Q5: Are you frustrated that your non-Bond films have not done as well? Because I think that you should be proud of Evelyn, it's really touched our hearts.
PB: Thank you very much. Yes, I'm deeply proud of the film. I'd like to think that there's a time in my career where something has happened, that I made this movie and did some acting. Something happened there that connected me to my roots as an actor, something that's not happened in some time. I don't have any ego about my films competing with Bond. I love what I do and I'm so lucky to have come so far within this profession and I enjoy the company of actors and working on films. You just have to keep showing up, you take the blame, you take the praise and you move on. I remember I was at the Deauville film festival with The Thomas Crown Affair and having supper with my wife when I spotted Sydney Pollack. He stood up and congratulated me on the film, and he said, "Really enjoy this - it won't come along that often." Great words from a great man. You have to be tough as old boots to do it and sometimes you can get twisted and bitter by it, and the work turns sour. Not a good place to be.
RJ: Evelyn's not an obvious vehicle for an actor of your profile. They probably want you to do more films like The Thomas Crown Affair, something bigger and glossier.
PB: Believe me, they want the next Thomas Crown. MGM does, and we're working on it. We set a high benchmark for ourselves with that character in the last film. The situation I'm in now, with Irish DreamTime, we've made three films and I now have some power over my career, and that leads you think, what stories do you want to tell? What stories do you want to give yourself over to for six months to a year?
RJ: What are the factors determining what kind of projects you do? I imagine that either it's something to do with finances which is going to give you the position to go ahead with and make smaller projects, or something that has to come from the heart, doesn't it? Because you're going to have to spend six month as an actor, never mind as a producer, where you have to be there from the beginning and it can be a very long and drawn out process.
PB: We have some projects at the moment. We have one project which is about to set sail and it's a romantic comedy with Julianne Moore and it has the legs to be something at the moment but it's a work in progress. That's an area that I haven't explored enough of and if I sit around waiting to be offered something like that, I'd be waiting a long time. Again, it's the control over the career. But then we also have another picture, where we have a very small budget, maybe $2m, $3m, shoot it fast, young director, good text. So I want to be able to do it all. It comes from the luxury of having James Bond in my life and having these movies every two years.
Q6: You talked earlier about liking the quiet moments in Bond films. What are your favourite moments in Bond?
PB: I don't really know how to answer that question. GoldenEye, there are some good moments there - there's a moment on the beach, with Izabella Scorupco, which for me was somewhat the hook of this man, that he was betrayed. I think in the last one, the opening sequence, and the scenes with M, because of Dame Judi and the calibre of actress that she is.
Q7: How did Evelyn evolve from the first draft to the story we saw on screen?
PB: It was a pretty heavy piece at the beginning and we had to do some filleting. Paul Pender took our notes and gave us the script, but what he'd done was condense the type to fit in more. We picked him up on that one. But I think it's pretty much you see here.
Q8: How much research did you do in Irish pubs for the film? And was that actually you singing?
PB: Yes. The research was fairly intense, and mostly enjoyable. You can't fake Guinness on film, so that was real Guinness. And that was me singing.
Q9: What issues or stories would you want Irish DreamTime to make and mean?
PB: Well, so far I've made three films which are very dear to my heart. Thomas Crown had a magic to it, and so does Evelyn, which I know how we did it and I know the hard work that went into it but that they should both have such lives of their own, is what drives one on to do it again and again. I would like, 10 years from now, to look back and see a handful of films with a broad spectrum of appeal from Crown to small character films like this and action movies, hopefully ones that make money. But ultimately, in some way, you make them for yourself.
RJ: You're making films which have a kind of populist feel about them - Evelyn's not a difficult film.
PB: You make them to be successful, so you fill a theatre hopefully, so that people at the end of a long week go the pictures and come away saying, "That was a great movie."
Q10: How do you feel about the increasing use of product placement in the Bond films?
PB: I feel quite good about it really, I have no problems with it. I have some wonderful suits in my closet, a lovely car, some refined watches. There's always been product placement in Bond movies. Ian Fleming wrote about the South Sea Island cotton shirts, and the cigarettes and the booze - that's always been there. Maybe sometimes we've been a bit heavy-handed about it but I don't think it takes away from the enjoyment of it.
Q11: Do you have any desire to direct?
PB: No. I daydream about it from time to time, but I don't really have a want. You have to have a strong desire - as soon as you step on the stage, that want has to drive you through the day, through the weeks to the end of the film. Sometimes I think that I could do it, but then I find myself in the company of directors and I think, oh my God, I couldn't put up with all these questions and these bloody people just constantly at you. I would not have the patience. Having said all of that, there might come a point where I might have the guts to do it. But as of now, I love producing, finding the stories and the enjoyment of bringing players together and watching it grow from there.
RJ: Let me take this opportunity to thank you for being such a wonderful guest and for being so candid. Thank you very much.