Simon Mayo

It is darkly comic.

I saw an interview with you in where you said you have learnt to be funny.

which kind of implied that you weren't funny.

It's a Steven Soderbergh film.

What is it like to make a film with Steven Soderbergh when you're on set?

I mean, most of the set is in a house, so it feels like a chamber piece, really, like a two-hander.

Is he fulsome in his praise?

Fulsome?

Is he fulsome in his praise?

Does he praise you a lot or does he just expect you to get on with it?

I don't think he ever told me I was good.

You mentioned Lord of the Rings and 28 takes or whatever.

If I've got your diary right, you've done Avengers and you're going to do Gandalf, so the robes beckon again.

It must be wonderful to be here in your pub, to be doing a film which I think is going to win all over the place and be in your own bed, in your own pub.

And are you excited about that?

The heart of the Christophers is sort of unfinished work.

That's one of the things that it's about, these paintings that are upstairs, which we do get to see.

And I wondered...

Do you have unfinished work that you would like to go back to?

You know, that you started, or you would think, I would like to finish that.