Q: You really did an outstanding job in this movie. You and Bob Balaban were the only two American actors in with literally the royalty of British actors. What was it like for you to be on this set?
A: Intimidating initially, especially because I definitely felt like an outsider, which was something that works for the character but at the same time they have so much experience and there is such a reverence for the craft in England and you know the history of how English actors prepare so thoroughly and they are so committed, so there were a lot of things about it that kind of intimidated me. Plus working with Robert Altman too was unreal. You adjust and go into it with a certain attitude and people respond to you favourably and I ended up getting along with every single person I worked with and it was a great experience.

Q: What in your opinion makes Robert Altman such a unique director?
A: The freedom that he gives actors and the other people collaborating on the process, the cameraman for example — also the response that he gets from everybody in the cast and crew. He is so inclusive and is complimentary in a real genuine way and gets amazing results from people and an amazing effort from people because they are so happy to work with somebody who has that kind of nature.

Q: How did you prepare for your role? Without giving anything away, you play a servant who is from Scotland. Did you have to work hard on the accent?
A: We did read quite a bit about the class system and I read quite a few books about what was required or expected of servants of the day. It was an interesting time socially being between the two world wars and the idea of this being the end of the servant culture. With the accent I had like three lessons and it was specifically meant not to be perfect so I didn't have to worry about that too much.

Q: Well you fooled me!
A: I also felt that my character was one of the few who the less I knew about this world the better in a way. Here he is a guy who comes from nothing even close to it and lives in Los Angeles, which is a modern city, compared to going back to some other age. So it worked in my favour not to be too informed.

Q: Was there anyone on the set, perhaps, whom you admired that really surprised you or stood out for you?
A: Michael Gambon, who plays the Lord of the Household. I mean he is much older than I am but we got along like a couple of college kids. It was unbelievable. I really got along with him very well. I was surprised because he's a Knight. It's weird, these people have these titles and this amazing body of work that is so impressive but there is no ego. And I don't think that if you would have put together a comparable group of American actors — I know it wouldn't have gone as seamlessly as this movie did. It's just a different breed altogether.

Q: The last few years have been so wonderful for you both personally and professionally. You, of course are married to Reese Witherspoon, whom you met while making Cruel Intentions and now you have a baby daughter. How has fatherhood changed your perspective on things?
A: It's changed me in every way possible. I keep it pretty separate from work, which I actually find relatively easy to do. However, being a parent does affect your choices and when you make those choices I find it's important to make time to spend with the family and the baby...Reese and I do a thing where we alternate working schedules. We make sure that we don't work in different locations at the same time. There's a set of rules and ideas that we adhere to. It's very important to us.

Q: Next up, we are going to see you in a film called Igby Goes Down — interesting title! But I was reading up about it and it sounds really fascinating.
A: It really is. It's a dark comedy about a dysfunctional high society New York family and the cast is great and it's so fresh and original. Burr Steers is the writer/director and I really think that he is going to do some very interesting things in this business. It also stars Susan Sarandon, Jeff Goldblum and Claire Daines. I'm very proud of it.

Q: The big question, are you and Reese going to work together again soon?
A: Yes, as a matter of fact, we actually have a movie called The Flying Smiths, that we are producing together and plan to star in. So that should be fun.