Mark Strong interview: 'Bad guys usually make the most interesting characters'

After 12 years in the Hollywood trenches, one-time stage regular Mark Strong is returning to tread the boards in what may be one of London’s most unusual major productions this year. Directed by Belgian avant-gardist Ivo van Hove, Strong takes the lead in a reworking of Arthur Miller’s epic Brooklyn-set tragedy ‘A View from the Bridge’.

You’re back! What made you return?
‘Part of it was the play: Arthur Miller is a craftsman. Then I heard that Ivo [van Hove] wanted to get involved. I wouldn’t have done this had it been yet another re-creation of 1950s Brooklyn. If you’re going to do a play after all this time, there’s nothing better than to reinvigorate an old classic and get people to look at it in a new way.’

Miller’s plays don’t usually get mucked around with. Will this be something mad?
‘It’s going to be quite unique. Ivo’s basically stripped away everything that will draw your concentration from what the characters are actually saying. So we have no furniture and we have virtually no props. It should be almost as if you had lifted the lid off a box and were watching a bunch of ants running around inside.’
Your character Eddie is a complex emotional role. Has it been hard work?
‘We joked the other day about the fact that when Scarlett Johansson and Liev Schreiber did it on Broadway they said, “When everybody was laughing after five minutes we realised we had a winner.” Our cast all looked at each other and went: “Laughing?” But I’m loving the process.’

You have a crazy prolific screen career that takes in everything from comic book films to Cold War thrillers – do you have a plan?
‘It’s really that I’m always looking for something different. For example, Thaal Sinestro in “Green Lantern” was an opportunity to do something I had never done before. You’re in a massive green room wearing this ridiculous skintight costume with dots all over it. The challenge of creating a character whose looks were based on David Niven – an old hero of mine – was also pretty appealing.’

Do you often play the bad guy because they’re so fun?
‘Not exactly – I did ‘The Long Firm’ [in 2004] in which I played a very dark character called Harry Starks, and as a result I think people thought, “Oh, he can play bad guys.” These are often the most interesting characters in any story. Although they do tend to get killed off a lot. But hey, it’s worth it.’