“Increasingly I’m playing Ward Bond to his John Ford!”, laughs Tom Wilkinson, referring to his relationship with director John Madden. That might be a little harsh. After all, the 62 year-old isn’t quite as gruff and burly as the aforementioned character actor who went from being an extra to a respected supporting player, thanks to his relationship with Ford, who cast him in everything from The Grapes of Wrath to The Searchers. But then again, Madden and Wilkinson have increasingly expanded their CVs so that they coincide. Most famously, Wilkinson played theatre proprietor Hugh Fennyman in the Oscar-winning Shakespeare in Love but their relationship stretches back to 1990, when Madden cast him in ‘The Infernal Serpent’, an episode of Inspector Morse. 

Two decades on, and Wilkinson is back with Madden for The Debt, co-starring with Dame Helen Mirren and Sam Worthington. He plays Stephan, a former Mossad agent now holding a deadly secret. As the story unfolds, we learn that, over forty years earlier, he was sent with two colleagues to East Berlin to track down a Nazi doctor in hiding, kidnap him and then bring him to Israel for trial. Below, Wilkinson talks about his relationship with Madden, a Hollywood career that has seen him star in everything from Rush Hour to Batman Begins and the upcoming Mission: Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol and why he won’t play the “dying grandfather”.  

Q: Do you find it hard to talk about your roles in an interview?  

A: I do. The thing is, when you act a role, you’re going to ask me to talk about my character in the way I never have. I don’t know how to talk about it. I know how to act it, but I don’t need to be able to write an essay on it.  

Q: Well, let’s see. You worked with John Madden on Shakespeare in Love… 

A: And I did an Inspector Morse with him… 

Q: So how has he evolved over the years? 

A: He was a well-established high-end TV director and now he’s a very well-established high-end movie director. I’m sure he’s become more confident, more competent.  

Q: Do you usually ask yourself: do I get on with those involved in a particular project?

A: I’ve never really had any bad experiences on movies. There are some directors I probably wouldn’t work with again, not that I didn’t like them, it’s just because I think they’re not that good. 

Q: Do you see this film as a thriller or a political piece? 

A: I think it’s an emotional thriller. It’s a thriller with other stuff. It’s got an emotional momentum which a thriller doesn’t need to have and it’s got a few aspects and different themes that recur and crop up in it. It’s good work by John to keep them more or less bubbling along all at the same time. 

Q: How did you feel when you saw the finished film? 

A: I was impressed and surprised by the violent bits of it, which are violent. They’re not that generalised, ‘I’ll give you a punch and you give me a punch’, stuff. It’s scary stuff. And I think most of it works pretty well. 

Q: Did you talk to Marton Csokas at all, who plays your character when he’s younger?

A: No. They were long finished by the time I came on the scene, so I didn’t get to see anything. And I didn’t look at any footage. People change a lot, as they get older. He’s 25 and I’m not 25. But afterwards, looking at it a couple of days ago when I saw it, I thought, ‘It could be the same guy. It could be the same guy. There is a similar sort of passion’.            

Q: What is The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel about? It’s another collaboration with John Madden, right? 

A: Yes. It’s about a hotel set up and various people are retiring, or going to India for different reasons. And it’s all different stories, plus the story of Dev Patel who is opening the hotel.  

Q: John says it’s a good film for the grey pound…

A: Yeah [laughs]. I don’t want to hear any of that – I’m still down with the kids!

Q: You’re coming up in MI:4 Ghost Protocol – delivering the immortal ‘your mission, should you choose to accept it’ line to Tom Cruise… 

A: Yeah – I’m just in that one scene. That was nice to do. I enjoyed that.  

Q: Do you find there’s a lot of typecasting? 

A: Maybe. I can’t see it. I think there are fewer good roles in your sixties, than there were in your fifties, than there were in your forties, than there were in your thirties, I guess. If I read another script where I get to play a dying grandfather! I’m not going to do that! Unless it’s the best ever dying grandfather movie ever made – then I’ll do it.  

Q: How do you look back at your film career?  

A: I’ve been very lucky on the movies I’ve made, because a lot of them have been really quite successful and that really reassures the various people in LA who want to hire you. The Full Monty was a great help and the next year I was in Shakespeare in Love and Rush Hour, which were very successful for different reasons. Then In the Bedroom…when I did it, I thought it will prove two things: a) I can play an American, and b) I can do a leading role in a movie. Lots of people saw it.                                            

Q: Have you been working harder than ever in the last decade? 

A: It’s been consistent. This year (2011) hasn’t though – I haven’t done anything this year – though I’m about to do some stuff now. It’s more and more difficult to get me to work now. I’m lucky enough to be able to say, ‘If you want me to be in a movie, I’ll do it for two weeks but that’s it.’ 

Q: I guess it’s different to when you’re playing the lead…

A: If you’re playing the outright lead, then you’ve got to work with them. You think, ‘Well, if you can get into six weeks, it’s better than eight weeks’, but I’ve got this role in a couple of weeks where I’m going to go to Mexico. It’s not a big role and it’s dotted around a bit, but they’re quite happy to do it in two weeks. If you want to do it, you do it. If the ultimate dying grandfather role came up, I’d go ‘Well, I have to be there.’ 

Q: What is the film in Mexico?

A: It’s called Little Boy. It’s a touching, rather old-fashioned story about a young kid whose father goes off to World War II. The young kid takes it upon himself to try and end the war, so his Dad can come home. And I’m the priest. But a good priest, a cool priest. It’s a very touching story, I think. If they pull it off, it’ll be a little belter.