Your character, Col, held the key to the whole drama for me.

I think your assessment of the situation is correct.

Thats the reality though, isnt it?

Its stating the obvious again, but that is the reality of most low-level criminals.

The Driverwas a reunion with David Morrissey for you.

I was in a cafe in Brixton for the whole shoot.

You reminded me, Ive forgotten wed done that film together before.

Have you watched it recently?

Do you not re-watch your old work?

Ive never liked to.

Ive never watched anything, no, no.

Ive watched a few things by mistake, but I dont make a habit of it.

I wondered how you thought both of your performances had changed over the thirty years betweenOne SummerandThe Driver?

Oh, do you know what, probably essentially the same.

And I think thats great [laughs].

When youre seventeen, you havent got any of that shit!

Youre just is this what you want me to do?

Okay, fine, shall I sit down here?

Okay, fine, theres no complexity or thought about would my character do this?

Thats an obstacle in my life.

I think we do intellectualise.

I intellectualise till the cows come home.

You must have watched David Morrisseys performances over the years though?

You havent seen him inThe Walking Dead, then?

No, because hes my mate, he falls under the same policy.

I wont be watching him either.

[laughing] Its Dave with funny hair!

Its just impossible for me to watch him.

Theres no point in anyone leaving the house unless youve got a good script.

Yeah, deeply upset.

Either that or what can I stomach to earn a living.

Sometimes, thats the other choice.

I wish Id joined.

I knew I was dead.

They paid me and let me go.

That was fine, I enjoyed it.

I had a good time and I enjoyed it, so I have no complaints.

I think HBOs to blame.

Without HBO we wouldnt have any of that.

You wouldnt have an AMC makingBreaking Badhad HBO not existed.

They could make whatever they wanted.

We get a distorted perception of it.

Just because things are good, doesnt mean that people watch them!

It never got a proper broadcast over here, did it?

I think we dig it more than they do.

Ive just done a film with Michael Caton-Jones [Urban Hymn] which I enjoyed thoroughly.

And Im trying to, but theyre so thin on the ground.

Michael Winterbottom and people like that are still great in this country.

But in terms of money, whos going to give them… no-one wants to give them any money.

Its those mid-budget films that arent being funded anymore, isnt it?

You get blockbusters and you get… We either make a film for nothing, or a hundred million.

Not that I found, but thats more my fault than a lack of their existence.

Talking of America, can we expect to see you again inAgents Of SHIELD?

Your character is technically still alive…

He is, yeah.

Theyre a bunch of lying gets!

Youre going to be this and this.

And then that was it!

They went yeah, were going to go a different way.

So thats it forAgents Of SHIELDthen?

I mean, as you say, he is alive.

He could come back?

But it hasnt happened so far!

I dont know if youve seen a short online video that Mark Kermode made about you?

He said your talent is in uniting disparate, warring elements in a character yet making them completely believable.

That really says it for me, too.

Do you see that in your work, bringing together conflicting strands?

I think part of my role is to expose that.

Everyone puts a front on.

Otherwise its an automaton, not a real human being.

Thats what I do.

Im always aware of the fact that, wheres this?

Wheres that element in this character?

How can we expressallof this character, or as much [laughs] as the writing will allow.

As you say, it all comes back to the writing.

The writing, thats it.

Its all a con-trick.

The whole of human interaction is a con-trick.

Its an exchange of what I want versus what you want.

Even a conversation, its a con-trick.

Its basically that we as the populace are willing to be conned.

We want the thing, we want whatever the guys offering us for free.

And conning people is your job as an actor?

Selling an illusion, yeah.

And you develop techniques, you develop an understanding, but essentially thats what youre doing.

Its a nonsense to say someones behaving out of character, he just didnt do it yet!

He just hadnt done that thing, that doesnt mean its out of character.

The notion of character is a nonsense.

You do things, thats all it is.

Everything else is bullshit.

Ian Hart, thank you very much!

The Driver was released on DVD on Monday the 13th of October.