Clive Owen shrugs off his super-sexy celeb status to star as a fallible father in the family drama The Boys Are Back.
Pagination
- 1
- 2
Clive Owen plays a man devastated by the death of his wife in Scott Hick’s three hankie drama The Boys Are Back. He has no time to mourn or take stock; he must care for the sons he virtually neglected while building a career as a TV sports announcer.
Suddenly he must deal with his son’s grief, try to navigate his own and rebuild their lives. He hasn’t a clue how to do that. Their home falls into squalor and the boys head off the rails and act out due in part to his reluctance to put any rules in place. It’s a heartbreaking situation.
“I’d argue that he tries everything,” says Owen. “He tries very hard not to go into that situation. I think the whole thing is from a guy’s perspective, and I’m a parent. I’ve got two girls, and a day with dad is different then a day with mum, in any family, it just is. Obviously he takes it too far in this movie in theory, he’s fallible, and he’s like everyone else. He’s trying to do the best he can.”
“Every time I read that in the script I cried. I cried! Imagine saying to one of your kids, “Your mum’s not going to be around for much longer” It kills me every time I even think about it. It was one of the reasons I wanted to do the film, I found it so upsetting, and that’s the beginning of the film, it was very, very affecting. I cried every time I read it, and it’s just there, it just upsets me, I think about it. There’s this one scene where I go walking and I get very upset over this thing, and Scott was very sensitive. When I got upset, he just kept rolling.”
Clive's take on fatherhood on the next page ...
Get all of our latest TIFF coverage!
