Clive Owen's Reel Nightmare

This year has been very good for Clive Owen. He started 2005 with an Oscar nomination and Golden Globe win for "Closer," which co-starred Julia Roberts. He had a big hit in the spring starring in "Sin City," and now he co-stars with Jennifer Aniston in the new thriller "Derailed."

"It reminded me of those old Hitchcock films where characters are thrown into nightmares where nothing is quite as it seems. It is full of twists and turns," Owen tells The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith.

In "Derailed," Owen plays an ordinary man thrust into an extraordinary situation.

"His marriage is not fantastic," Owen says. "He's got a kid, and he's got lots of work, and he meets the most beautiful, fresh, inspiring, humorous, attentive, lovely woman and he falls. And, you know, they're both married. They both shouldn't but they do. They end up in a hotel room. A horrific thing happens, and he's thrown into a nightmare, which just keeps spiraling out of control."

In a lot of his movies, Owen plays the tough guy, but in this new film takes the role of the victim.

"I was very interested in playing such a victim, really," Owen says. "The story sort of attacks him. And for the film to work and to be completely convincing, you've got to believe in the nightmare that he is going through."

The women Owen has worked with are very complimentary and this film is not the exception. It was actually during a chance meeting that Julia Roberts told Jennifer Aniston she had to work with Owen.

"That's lovely," Owen says about being well regarded by his co-stars. He says the feeling is mutual.

"You asked me about Jennifer Aniston and you asked me about Julia Roberts. I'll say the same about them. It's a mutual thing," he says. "There's something very wonderful about working with really good people."

When Owen is not on the big screen, he enjoys time with his children, and says it is hard for him when he has to go on location.

"It's the toughest part," he says. "In the early days, I thought the good actors have substantial bits of downtime. You'll spend a lot of time with the children. And I thought well this is good. A lot of fathers don't have that.

"But you realize very quickly that children love routine. They love knowing where they're at. And if Dad comes home, gives them their bath and puts them to bed, that that happens every day, that's good. The trouble with our game is that Dad can be around and do everything for three or four weeks, but then can disappear. And kids find that unstabling because they don't — however much they're enjoying the company of their father or their mother — they worry that at any point, they might take off. I'm here in New York now and my kids are in London. Whoosh, he's gone again. And that's a difficult thing."
So what does he tell his children when he has to go?

"Well, mine are very young," he says. "They think it's a choice. They think it's me choosing this over them. They don't quite understand that. They will."

For now, his children cannot see his movies. "And they're now getting a bit annoyed with me," Owen adds, laughing. "They're like, 'When are you going to do one for us? Why can't we see them?' That's what I'm getting at the moment."

"Derailed" opens nationwide Friday. Also Friday, don't miss Smith's very candid interview with Owen's costar, Jennifer Aniston.

Fast Facts About Clive Owen:

• Born in Coventry, England, in 1965
• Began studying acting as a teenager.
• Made professional stage debut as member of the Young Vic company; played Claudio in "Measure for Measure" and Romeo in "Romeo and Juliet."
• In 1988 made feature film debut in "Vroom." The following year, he made his U.S. TV debut in "Precious Bane," a two-part segment of the PBS series "Mystery!"
• From 1990 to 1991 he played lead in Central Television series "Chancer." In 1991, he won praise for his performance as an incestuous brother in Steven Poliakoff's, "Close My Eyes."
• In 1993 he was directed by Poliakoff in "Century," and made his American TV-movie debut in, "Class of '61" (ABC).
• In 1996 had his first U.S. feature film, "The Rich Man's Wife." He also starred in the ITV series "Sharman."
• In 1999 he played the title role in Mike Hodges' "Croupier;" the film became a popular art-house hit upon its 2000 release in America. He also introduced the character of Detective Inspector Ross Tanner, a policeman suffering a virus that affects his ability to see, in the BBC series "Second Sight"; it aired on PBS in the United States.
• In 2000 he co-starred as a prisoner with a flair for gardening in "Greenfingers;" it was screened at the Toronto Film Festival; first screen appearance opposite Helen Mirren.
• In 2001 he reprised role of Tanner in a second series of "Second Sight" (BBC-1), which aired on PBS in the United States. He also played the valet to a visiting guest at "Gosford Park," the Robert Altman-directed period mystery; it was his second screen teaming with Helen Mirren.
• In 2002 he co-starred in a villainous turn in "The Bourne Identity." And he starred opposite Angelina Jolie in the love story "Beyond Borders."
• In 2004 he starred in the thriller "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead," playing a retired British gangster who emerges from his secluded countryside life to investigate the death of his brother.

  He was also in Antoine Fuqua's supposedly "demystified" retelling of the legend of "King Arthur," a big budget, action-oriented film that cast Owen as England's once and future king, this time set in a more historically correct context.

  And he appeared in the romantically brutal drama "Closer" directed by Mike Nichols, about two couples (Natalie Portman, Julia Roberts and Jude Law co-starred) who become messily intertwined in a love-sex-gender war. He won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance.

• In 2005 he played the rugged Dwight, who has a "soft spot for the ladies," in an adaptation of Frank Miller's graphic novel series "Sin City."