Today is the start of the Berlin Film Festival, and the Clive Owen-Naomi Watts film The International is the premiere film of the festival. This is Clive’s first film since Elizabeth: The Golden Age, and hopefully Clive will be doing a lot of interviews and photo-ops. Hurray!

Clive gave an interview to AFP about the film, which is based on the true story of the collapse of Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) in the 1990s. The story, according to Clive, has special resonance today with the current financial screw-ups. He also talks about another film he has coming out, Duplicity, with Julia Roberts. Julia has a well-documented crush on Clive, but all Naomi Watts says about him is that he’s “brilliant”. The complete AFP interview is here:

Timing may be everything in Hollywood, but when Clive Owen agreed his latest film role a few years ago even he had no idea how closely the fictional thriller would play like present-day news. In a case of art imitating life, “The International” is set in the murky world of international banking and was inspired by the early 1990s collapse of the scandal-plagued Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI).

In an interview with AFP, Owen acknowledged the film could well resonate with audiences reeling from the global financial meltdown that has exposed mismanagement in the upper echelons of Wall Street.

“It’s become unbelievably relevant,” the English actor said. In the sophisticated thriller, Owen stars with Naomi Watts as law enforcement officials investigating a corrupt bank with sinister lending practices.

“The whole film is about this huge, faceless multi-billion-dollar bank who I believe to be corrupt and try to convince people, and try to bring them down. The big questions in the movie are: do banks use our money appropriately?” Owen added. “Can you trust them? Are they corrupt? Now the questions have been hugely to the fore in the last six months with what’s been going on.”

In “The International,” Owen plays Louis Salinger, an Interpol agent whose rabid conviction to expose the bank’s mendacity threatens to derail his career. The film, directed by Germany’s Tom Tykwer (“Run Lola Run”), and written by Eric Warren Singer, is loosely based on the BCCI scandal.

The bank’s collapse was one of the biggest corporate scandals of the 90s when it was revealed the bank laundered money for terrorists, trafficked arms and abetted nuclear proliferation. Watts, who chases the bankers across Europe and New York with Owens, said she took the role — after initially demurring following the birth of her first child — because of her co-star as well as the subject matter.

“Clive is just brilliant,” she said. “But what I really love about this film is that it feels very current and reflective of our times.”

Owen meanwhile said he was attracted to the film’s script, which harked back to thrillers from the 1970s.

“With all the research that this script was based on, what I liked was that it was like the 70s paranoid political thrillers that were based on fact and were sort of very intelligent and well-written, but were thrillers,” he said.

In fact, next month he?ll be taking on institutions of moral complexity yet again in the drama “Duplicity” by the director of “Michael Clayton,” Tony Gilroy, and starring opposite Julia Roberts again.

“I got on so well with her during ‘Closer’ and I was so excited by this script and there was nobody better for it than Julia,” Owen said.

And Owen, who became known to Americans as much as through smaller independent films as well as through the iconic BMW ads shot by filmmakers such as Ang Lee and Wong Kar-Wai, has emerged as a player in a pack of Brits currently beguiling Hollywood as Oscar season approaches, including actress Kate Winslet and “Slumdog Millionaire” director Danny Boyle.

Owen’s CV reflects his willingness to take on varied roles that are rarely one dimensional.

“I’ve got to try and make you understand whatever I’m doing at any given point,” he said. “Shooting someone, cheating on my wife, I’m going to try very hard to make you understand that. I think of that as my job. It’s never black-and-white. And that’s why I’m always drawn to characters that have conflicts, because when you can do that you can play more than one thing.”

From The AFP Hosted by Google

Did anyone else get a little warmer when Clive said “shooting someone, cheating on my wife, I’m going to try very hard to make you understand that”? I understand it, Clive! The International looks really, really good, like Michael Clayton with a financial twist. I hope it’s well-received in Berlin.

Here’s the trailer for the film:

Photos are stills from The International, via WENN

Clive Owen could be reading the phone book and it would be sexy. But for him to actually star in a film that he calls a “sexy, savvy, banter movie” – be still, my heart. Seriously, his voice is the best part of an already perfect package. Anyway, Clive answered some questions from The Los Angeles Times via e-mail about his two upcoming spy films. First up is The International, co-starring Naomi Watts. After that is Duplicity, playing against his Closer co-star Julia Roberts.

Clive Owen, who hasn’t been seen on the big screen since his supporting turn as Sir Walter Raleigh in 2007′s “Elizabeth: The Golden Age,” comes back strong with two lead roles — both in spy thrillers, though with very distinct tones — early this year.

First is “The International,” opening Feb. 13. Directed by Tom Tykwer (“Run Lola Run”) and set in various European locales, the film casts the British actor as a relentless Interpol agent who teams with a savvy Manhattan district attorney (Naomi Watts) to bring down a powerful world bank involved in illegal arms trading.

Written and directed by Tony Gilroy (“Michael Clayton), “Duplicity” arrives in theaters next — on March 20 — and finds Owen with Julia Roberts playing corporate spies with a romantic past involved in a race to corner the market on a medical discovery. Owen recently spoke about his two projects in an e-mail interview.

Q: Tom Tykwer is so adept at big action sequences. What was that like as an actor?

I’m a big fan of Tom’s work. He’s up there as one of the very best directors I have worked with. He seems to have a grasp of all aspects of filmmaking; I trust him implicitly.

Q: Though it has a very contemporary story line, “The International” has that feel of those great spy thrillers of the 1960s that are set throughout Europe.

The locations play a very big part in the experience of this movie. My character literally travels the world in pursuit of bringing down one of the world’s biggest banks, and each location is hugely atmospheric.

Q: The lengthy shoot sequence set at the Guggenheim Museum in New York is absolutely dazzling but must have been extremely arduous to shoot.

It took a long time and a lot of preparation. It’s a very good example of how talented Tom is as a director. It’s an ever-developing, exquisitely realized action sequence in an iconic New York museum. I think this sequence will be talked about for many years.

Q: You and Armin Mueller-Stahl, who plays a member of the powerful bank, have some crackling scenes together, especially the intense interrogation sequence. Did you rehearse?

Rehearsals were more about understanding the scenes than playing them. You have to be careful rehearsing for movies — if you over-rehearse you can kill a scene by getting overly familiar with it.

Q: How is “Duplicity” different in style and tone than “The International”?

“Duplicity” is a very different kind of movie. It’s a very sexy, savvy, banter movie with fantastic dialogue — some of the best I’ve been given on film. I thought “Michael Clayton” was an astonishing debut for Tony — so smart and assured. And “Duplicity” is one of the best scripts I’ve read in a very long time. The two films have a couple of things in common — great scripts and brilliant directors.

[From The Los Angeles Times]

Both films looks really good, and Clive Owen looks really good in them. In the trailers I’ve seen, he’s wearing good suits and running around with his hair tousled and damp from sweat. *swoon* I’ve read other places that Julia Roberts is half-in-love with Owen, and she pulled rank with producers to get him cast in Duplicity. As a matter of fact, I believe nearly every actress who has worked with Owen walks away pretty much in love with him. Or am I projecting?

Here’s Clive and Julia Roberts filming “Duplicity” in front of Lord & Taylor on 5th Avenue in New York on April 14th. Images thanks to Fame.

Clive Owen is one of those rare actors who almost always makes good, interesting films. I’m hard-pressed to think of one Clive Owen film where it seemed like he was phoning it in (alright, maybe Derailed). So with that in mind, imagine a Clive Owen film where he runs around fighting international crime in the forms of gun-runners and *cue dramatic music* white-collar crooks. Thus, The International, a film directed by Tom Tykwer and co-starring Naomi Watts. The International will be the opening film of the Berlin Film Festival, which begins February 5.

Tom Tykwer’s “The International,” an action thriller starring Clive Owen and Naomi Watts, will open the 59th Berlin International Film Festival on February 5.

Screening out of competition, the feature will be Tykwer’s second Berlinale opening, following “Heaven,” which bowed at the 2002 event.

But unlike “Heaven,” which was an art-house film more along the lines of Tykwer’s “Winter Sleepers” (1997) or “The Princess and the Warrior” (2000), “The International” marks the German director’s jump into the major leagues.

The director of indie hit “Run, Lola, Run” (1998) proved he could handle a big budget with his last picture, the opulent olfactory epic “Perfume: The Story of a Murderer” (2006). But “The International” is Tywker’s first film with a U.S. studio. Sony co-produced with Germany’s Studio Babelsberg and will release the film in Germany February 12 and stateside, via Columbia Pictures, February 13.

“The International” is Tywker’s first film with a U.S. studio. Sony co-produced with Germany’s Studio Babelsberg and will release the film in Germany February 12 and stateside, via Columbia Pictures, February 13.

“The International” is also Tykwer’s first all-out action movie. The conspiracy thriller follows Owen as an Interpol agent who discovers that the world’s largest bank is secretly engaging in money laundering and illegal arms trading. Watts co-stars as a Manhattan assistant district attorney who joins Owen on his race around the world to bring those responsible to justice.

The film was shot largely in Berlin and Studio Babelsberg with location work in New York, Istanbul and Milan.

The 59th Berlinale runs February 5-15, 2009.

[From Reuters]

Honestly, just from reading the description, it sounds a lot like Owen’s next film, Duplicity, starring Julia Roberts. That one involves white-collar crimes and, evidently, a big Pretty Woman-grin. But I saw the trailer for it, and Clive is shirtless at one point. *swoon*

In other Clive Owen news, there seems to be progress on Sin City 2, according to Frank Miller and the fanboy rantings on such sites as “Geeks of Doom” (I kid you not). From what I could tell of the rantings of the fanboys, everyone involved with the would-be project wants Owen in it. Production could be starting in the spring.

Frank Miller is also a huge fan of Clive Owen. Check out what he said about Clive at the London premiere of The Spirit:

Looking towards his [Miller's] rumoured Raymond Chandler adaptation, Trouble Is My Business, he could only commit: “We’re talking it over.” However, when asked about Clive Owen, who is rumoured star in the film as detective Philip Marlowe, Miller said he would be his leading man “in almost anything I can imagine. He has a manliness which is largely lacking in Hollywood, and a sense of humour that’s unstoppable.”

[From EmpireOnline.com]

Someone’s got themselves a man-crush, don’t they? Frank and Clive, sitting in a tree, K-I-S– Back off, Frank Miller, he’s mine!

Here’s the trailer for The International

Clive Owen is shown filming Duplicity with Julia Roberts on 4/14/08. Credit: PRPhotos. He is also shown in a more recent photo, credit below

“Inside Man” starring Denzel Washington, Jodie Foster and Clive Owen premiered last night in NY. The film is an action movie featuring Washington as cop negotiating with a bank robber who has taken hostages:

Initial reviews are positive despite the familiar plot, and with such a talented cast it should be a great film.

Foster, Owen, and Washington attended last night’s premiere. Other celebrities pictured include featured stars Willem Dafoe, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Darryl Mitchell, and Kim Director. Well known names in attendance were Wesley Snipes, Jill Hennessy, Mariska Hargitay, Lynn Whitfield, the Reverend Al Sharpton, and Russell Simmons – without his annoying wife.

12 more pictures after the jump.

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