Have a Good NEWS

And you've already got your role sorted, I say, meaning that, of course, if it ever was a film, he could simply play himself. But he doesn't catch my drift.

"James, you mean?" And then realises his mistake. "Oh! You mean myself? Oh dear. I can't believe I said that." But, of course, he'd be brilliant as James Murdoch. I'm not sure why I didn't think of it before. He's specialised in characters who have an edge, a slightly slippery elusiveness, and there are obvious overtones of what is still, perhaps, his most famous role – the role that saw him burst into public consciousness in Anthony Minghella's

All of us

Do you think it 's just the beginning, I say. "I Hope it 's just the beginning. "And he makes the compressing action on his lips again." I don 't want to quote me, so I' m someone else will offer. It was an interesting Thought for the Day yesterday on Radio 4. I came to know the half so I don 't know who it was, but he was talking to feel sorry for Murdoch. No, it will not repent, he said he was asking for atonement. He was asking for forgiveness. And the guy said, he hasn 't be not judged. He hasn 't any right to even ask, because we still have to direct him. And the court is what is the whole thing. You judge people. These papers have assessed the human. I've been judged. They do not all have to be addressed, and I hope they are ready for it. "

He 's obviously refers to the time for a while, he one-half of the most glamorous couple on earth, the Jew Law-Sienna Miller clutch, a gift to the tabloid editors and celebrity magazines were everywhere. He was the Oscar-nominated, chisel-jawed actor (he was nominated for his role in The Talented Mr. Ripley

Anna Christie, a role that saw him feted by the critics and nominated for an Olivier award. He started out in the theatre and was a successful stage actor long before he was an international film star: he was nominated for his first Olivier (best newcomer) for his first West End play,

He has a whole slew of new films coming out later in the year, but he was also determined to go back to the theatre.

was a great triumph, it was overshadowed in some ways by the Samantha Burke episode ("Jude knows he's been a Bard boy" was one of the headlines), and this time around, it's inevitable that phone hacking will also cast a certain light. But then the play, he says, and his character in particular, is about youth and experience, and loss of innocence, and the gaining of knowledge, themes which are close to his heart too, and which have preoccupied him for much of the last few years.

for allegedly hacking into his phone in 2005 and 2006 – when Rebekah Brooks was editor – and which suggests the problem went much wider than just the News of the World

Observer

I read back his quotes to him and he nods. "That's right, yeah. That's where I've been. That's where a lot of people in this country have been living for years."

What he's done, he says, is to "work out a way around the system". There's been a process of renegotiation, of finding a way of being in the city with his children – Rafferty, 14, Iris, 10, and Rudy, eight (he's also supporting Sophia, 22 months, his daughter born to Samantha Burke in the US). "I've created a haven that works for me and my family that hasn't necessarily involved the law. That's just my way of doing things. Having said that, it's not like I've been a prisoner in my home. I don't want some sort of sob story. I still enjoy a very normal life with my kids. We use trains and buses and that's often the best way. If you build up some sort of psychological bubble around you, I think you're asking for trouble."

, and had his first child by the age of 23.

As a young man fought the law defined by his appearance. At 38, still heavily damped by the beard, he 's for increased Anna Christie He's still an undeniably handsome man, but there '\ sa wider range of roles available to him now: He had the look of a romantic lead, but always longed for the character roles. "I just think that I felt a little disappointed that 's what the people I have while I realized that I had many things to offer, so I wanted roles that went against them choose to feel wanted \. "

Growing older has possibly come as something of a relief. His new films due out later this year include Anna Karenina , With a new screenplay by Tom Stoppard, in which he is not playing dashing Vronsky, Karenin but horned opposite Keira Knightley. He is also with two of the actors of the reunified

Anna Christie is at the Donmar Warehouse, London WC2 from 4 August to 8 October. Box office: 0844 871 7624; www.donmarwarehouse.com