Clive Owen plays grief-stricken dad

Clive Owen smiles.

It may be hard to believe for those who see the actor only as a dark, brooding, man's man ("Inside Man," "Children of Men," "Sin City"), but Owen, in person, is a regular guy with a sense of humor.

That's why it's called acting.

The Daily News spoke with Owen at a small roundtable (perhaps five other journalists) at the Intercontinental Hotel, during last month's Toronto International Film Festival. He was there to promote his role as the widower father of two sons in "The Boys Are Back."

When a handful of writers are firing questions it's difficult to get a common thread for a story (the men's fashion writer only wants to know the actor's favorite designer, etc.) but here's what we learned about the movie.

First thing is I thought it was a very beautifully written script. I was very moved and very touched by it the first time I read it. . . . The second thing was that I'm a parent. I've always thought of parenting but I've always considered parenting as being separate from making movies. I've often made movies and then I go home and I hang with my girls [ages 10 and 12] and here was a film that was really exploring a big part of my life. And in a lovely way.

Q: How much time did you get to spend with the younger boy (newcomer Nicholas McAnulty)?

A: It was a big deal to me that I got out there early and spent some time. I deliberately took him on day excursions without anyone else there - his mother trusted me to take him off - and we went to safari parks and playgrounds and I just hung with him, because it really mattered that he trusted me and felt safe for the relationship to work on film. You would smell it if it was forced or pushed in any way.

Q: How nervous were you to sign on knowing that kids were such a huge part of the film?

A: It was a very big deal. The first conversation I ever had with Scott [director Scott Hicks, "Shine"] was that if we find a great 7-year-old, then that's a big step toward making a good film. He was very aware of that too and they saw a helluva lot of boys. Nicholas just stood out by a considerable distance.

There was some incredibly charming, cute kids who were very together and would have been very lovely - they were very sweet and very moving - but Nicholas was this bundle of unpredictable life, full of energy. And it was clear that, "Wow, this is it. The film will have a real spirit and a life with him in the middle of it." And rather than capturing a young actor honing the scenes, it became more about catching that unpredictability and aliveness, and the whole movie was kind of structured around his energy levels and making it work. . . . Because if you don't quite believe the kid you don't have a movie.

. . . That was also very clear with George [George MacKay, who plays older son Harry]. I met him and I thought he was fantastic from the minute I saw him. It's a very difficult part, his part, because it's a guy, who, for someone of his tender years, is coming into a situation and carrying a lot. His father left him when he was very young and he's full of upset about that but it's kind of buried. He just had a very expressive face that was very moving.

He's also incredibly skilled for a guy of his age. He's a proper actor with his approach to it, knowing what's important, his sense of the craft of it. He's very sophisticated and I think he has a very big future.

Q: As you play a somewhat live-and-let-live parent in the movie, did your own ideas about parenting change?

A: I read the book and the film is very close to the book in that way, about a guy bringing up kids and the slight craziness of it. I've always thought that days with dad are different from days with mom, generally. They're never going to be the same. Obviously he goes too far with it, but we are very quick to say "No" to our kids.

Q: Would you let your own daughters ride on the hood of your truck like Nicholas does at the start of the movie?

A: It's very weird because some people are very freaked out at that beginning and some people are less so. And it's often the women who are freaked out and the guys who think it's not too bad. [Laughs.]

Q: With your own kids, are you more inclined to say yes or no.

A: I'm a bit of a touch, yeah. But they're quite cunning. They'll often say, "Mum said it would be fine" and then you talk to mum and she's never had a conversation about it.

Q: As a father of two girls what was it like to work with two boys?

A: All my friends have got boys and I think it's very different.

I'm delighted to have girls.