When you came back to acting after a couple of years off, did you ever think you'd get lead roles like Fowler in "The Quiet American"?
Well, I was coming back as an entirely different thing. I wasn't a young romantic leading man who was going to get the girl. I was now a leading character actor, so to speak. And there's a difficulty in knowing what to do with that new person. It took a few years. "The Quiet American" is a massive lead for a guy of my age. It's a wonderful part and I look for me, the actor, in it and he's not there. I just see the man, the character. It's a great love story and a great spy story. And at 69, I got the girl! And it wasn't a 68-year-old girl either.
How do you find working with young American actors like Brendan Fraser?
I think they're great. I love the young American actors. I like ours too, though - Jude Law came to me not so long ago with a marvellous idea. I made a film years ago called "Sleuth" with Laurence Olivier, about an old man and a young man. Jude just came and said, "Let's do it again." Only I'll play the Olivier part and he'll play my part.
How do you feel about people plundering your back catalogue for remakes. They've done "Get Carter", they're doing "The Italian Job" and "Gambit", and they're planning "Alfie"...
It's a form of flattery really. We couldn't have done a bad job of it the first time if they want to remake them now. But I prefer to remake flops. I mean, I did "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels", which was a remake of a flop, and "The Quiet American" is a remake of a flop.
What's next on the slate for you?
Well, I'm doing a picture called "Secondhand Lions". It's about two eccentric Texan brothers, Robert Duvall and myself, who adopt their very weird orphaned nephew, played by Haley Joel Osment. And they have a lion instead of a guard dog. A guard lion. I'd not heard of the director [Tim McCanlies] before, but I'm going by the script and the people. If I've got Bob Duvall and Haley Joel Osment there... well, the three of us can take care of ourselves.
