After being coddled by Rebecca Pidgeon, I was looking forward to our meeting with Sir Nigel Hawthorne without fear. His portrayal of Arthur Winslow in The Winslow Boy, is very powerful, simultaneously completely authoritative and wise, yet bemused and vulnerable. I think he is the ideal Father. Q: Have you played the character before? NH: I have played Arthur Winslow before, many years ago, when I was much too young to play it. I haven't told David that, and I'm not about to tell him. My agent rang up and said, "They want to do a film of The Winslow Boy. " And I laughed and said, "what, that old boring thing?" And I said, "Who's directing?" and my agent said, "David Mamet." And I said, "Right. Book me." Because it's familiar territory. To us. The Winslow Boy has been done many times in England. And done with distinction often. But the prospect of David doing it was very attractive, because not only was his a fresh and objective perspective, but it belonged to someone from another country. A fresh eye. You know, I'm going to do King Lear at the Royal Shakespeare Company. Been going to do it. And every time it was proposed, I thought, I don't need to go down this familiar path. But now a Japanese director is going to do it, and I thought, a fresh eye. Q: Can you tell us how this Winslow Boy compares to the stage production of it you performed in? NH: No. I'm afraid that was undistinguished. It was regional theatre, two weeks rehearsal. The main objective was to remember the lines. Q: We were talking earlier about the emotional restraint of the characters. Do you think that is a national British quality? NH: Well, I was born in England but I grew up in South Africa. We think more like Americans. For example at home (I say home, even though I haven't been there in years), we think nothing of just dropping in on someone. And in England they would be horrified; you have to have an appointment. I suppose I'm naturally not so reserved. The fact that I'm in a collar and tie today is extremely rare. I'm usually in grubby jeans, a costume that befits neither my age nor my station. Q: I was intrigued by the relationship between the father and the little boy. Why is everyone so scared to tell Arthur that Ronnie was expelled from school? As if they were all anticipating some very terrifying or violent behavior, but that isn't what happens at all. NH: I think that there are various ways of doing the role. Certainly when I did it before, the father was much more austere. When I told a friend, who had played Grace, the mother, on stage, that I was going to do this role, she said, "Oh, he's a monster." I said, "Oh, I don't think so," and she said, "Oh, yes, he's a man who sacrifices everything and everyone. He's a completely self-oriented man." But he's not. He's a man who loves his family. He'll do anything that right should be done. And when people around him falter he says, no, no, we must persevere. And I think that makes The Winslow Boy a very powerful piece. It contains a lot of truth. Probably now we've grown too cynical. People said to me, "Oh, I expected that in the end it would turn out that the boy was lying." No. Never in my mind has there been any doubt that the boy is totally innocent. And the father looks him in the eye, and he knows that. It's very simple. Q: Do you think that artists and actors should use their position to highlight political and social causes? NH: I think there is a danger if you get a lot of thespian activity around a cause, it places the wrong emphasis. So, no, I don't do that. I do charity work locally, in my home area; I live in the country. I try to be understated about it; of course, you have to pull rank sometimes, because it brings in the money. But certainly in the work you choose�you have a certain responsibility to society. Sometimes you choose things for the wrong reason. For example, when I did Demolition Man, I don't think that was necessarily for the right reason. Q: How was it to work with David Mamet? NH: Well, you know he's a sort of a rigorous follower of various theories. Q: The actor should just stand there and say his lines. NH: He said that? Q: He wrote it at one point. NH: You see�he doesn't really mean it. Gordon Craig used to say that about actors, just get puppets. But David is a teacher, a professor, really. He likes to tell you how best to work, but once you've got over that barrier of student/teacher, it's plain sailing. The warmth that he exudes is quite remarkable. The affection he has for every member of the cast and crew is something I've rarely experienced.