Did you have the equivalent of a Boots in your life?

DC: Yes. I've got a good friend from school who I stay in touch with, but I left home at sixteen and I've lived most of my adult life in London and that's where my friends are. I've got one good friend back home who I still talk to, but it was a long time ago.

Harry Eden is brilliant as the young version of you, but you didn't get to share any scenes with him, obviously, so how involved were you in his casting?

DC: Baillie just said, "I found him," and as soon as I saw him, I knew he was the guy. People are saying we look physically alike, but Harry and I are convinced there are no similarities. But I just let him get on with it. It's a whole lifetime between that time and my time as the character. People change irrevocably, and I thought just letting him get on with being who he was was the best thing to do. He does it just as a moody teenager, full of hormones and everything else.



You have a quite graphic sex scene at the start, does it bother you, getting naked on screen?

DC: No, it never has. I've made a career out of it! I work out, but that's what I do now. That's part of my job. And I've always kept fairly fit. If I know I've got to take my top off I lay off the cakes! But I keep myself as physically fit as possible just because of what I've got to do in the movies. We've started Bond now, and we haven't started the physical stuff yet, but I'm sure I'm going to be walking wounded from the end of next week for the next six months!

Are you approaching Quantum of Solace with a sense of relief after the success of your first? Is there less pressure on you?

DC: I don't think so, I don't think you can say there's less pressure when you make a $200m movie - the pressure is plain to see. We've got to make it as good as if not better than the last one, that's the only thing that matters. I'm no less nervous than I was but I'm very happy with what we've put together for this one. Marc Forster's come on board and he's taking care of a lot of things that I just don't need to think about and I'm just getting on with it. I don't know if I'll ever feel comfortable with it. It's James Bond, I don't know if I'll ever get to that place and get Zen about it - it's not that kind of role. But I'm enjoying what we've shot of this and I'm planning to enjoy as much as I can of this filming process, because otherwise why do it?

Is there much difference between making a British indie movie like this and making a big $200m Bond movie?

DC: I honestly think that on set there's very little difference. On set there's two cameras, maybe, the crew and if you're shooting dialogue and scenes with actors it's the same. The difference comes in when suddenly there are explosions and napalm going off everywhere. But actually the atmosphere is very similar.

How are you finding working with Mathieu Amalric?

DC: I'm over the moon about it. We worked together very briefly on Munich, but I didn't actually have any scenes with him on that. Now I've got to know him, and that Schnabel movie he's just done is brilliant.



Is he Vesper's Algerian boyfriend? Is that the connection?

DC: There is a connection, yes! [laughs] The film carries on from where the last one stopped, so we set up in the last one that there's this organisation that's destabilising the world's economy in a bid to take it over, and Bond's job is to go and get them.

Now that you're making your second Bond movie, is it more or less important to do other work, do you think?

DC: It's no more or less important, I don't think. Someone asked whether it was important to make a smaller movie after making a Bond movie, but I've never, ever done films because I should do them, and if I have ever done that it's usually been an unpleasant experience. I've only ever really enjoyed and liked films I've done because I've wanted to do them. And that's absolutely on an individual basis. Doing a film and saying, I've done a really dark film and now I have to do a comedy... That's not me. If a script comes along and it's dark I'll absolutely do it and take the consequences. I'm not fussed about the image that goes along with it.

But it seems to have made it easier to do other work and to champion a project you really believe in, like this...

DC: It's been useful. Suddenly people are listening to me like I've got an opinion which is really disturbing! [laughs] I've kind-of got to have one! That's quite nice in a way - sort-of facing up, championing something and believing in something. It's a nice place to be. And, you know, I like Baillie Walsh, I think he's got a huge amount of talent, so saying to someone, "I like this guy," is really very easy. Read our interview with director Baillie Walsh here.