It's not a porn movie, though it does have a lot of sex in it 
Blackburn-born director Michael Winterbottom has one of the most diverse CVs of all his peers. After his 1995 debut Butterfly Kiss, he has tackled the works of Thomas Hardy, first in Jude (1996) and then The Claim (2001), with Welcome To Sarajevo (1997), Wonderland (1999), 24 Hour Party People (2002), and now Code 46 (2004) confirming the 43-year-old's range. He has already finished his next film, the controversial Nine Songs, and is in pre-production on Tristram Shandy, which is to star Steve Coogan.
What was the inspiration for the hybrid world you depict in Code 46?
When we began we thought the best thing would be to combine elements that already existed, but in different ways. Rather than build a whole artificial environment we thought it would be better to go to different places and try and see if we could fit them together. So we decided to take a bit of Shanghai, surround it with some desert from Dubai, and mix in a bit of India. By mixing those elements of climate and culture, you get a very interesting world; one that's very familiar and yet - as in a dream - not working to exactly the same rules as before.
Tim Robbins and Samantha Morton make for an interesting pairing - what made you cast them in their roles as a detective and his prey?
When we were casting we were looking for two people who could believably be in love, who could have this connection, and yet be opposites. And you do end up unconsciously choosing people who have some connection to the characters they're playing. Tim is very thoughtful, he has a very methodical way of working, he likes to discuss the characters, the story, the implications of the story and what's going on inside the character's head. That is a classical way of working, really. But Sam Morton's way of working is the opposite of that.
And how did you get Mick Jones to cover one of his own Clash hits in a cameo role?
We were actually at the wrap party in India, having shot all the final location stuff, and [producer] Andrew Eaton suggested Mick. We called him from the party, we knew him already, invited him to do it and he said yes.
You recently left Goal, the football drama you'd started working on. How come?
What happened was they had a script but they were looking for someone to rewrite it. But they had the money and wanted to start, so it was suggested we shoot some second unit stuff at a few Newcastle matches, with a view to rewriting the script during close season and starting it proper in August. We got to the stage where we had a script that we all agreed needed more work, but we all had different ideas on what that work should be. That's when I bowed out.
And what's the situation with Nine Songs? Is it going to be heavily cut before release?
It should get a certificate without a lot being cut from it. It's not a porn movie, though it does have a lot of sex in it. Half of it's a concert movie, with loads of brilliant music in it, and the other half is about two people in a relationship. We wanted to see whether we could tell a story which honestly depicts the connection between sexual intimacy and being in love without claiming they're the same thing.
