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To look at the imposing figure of Beowulf in Robert Zemeckis's vivid and thrilling new adaptation of English literature's most ancient text you would not automatically think of Ray Winstone.
Co-stars Sir Anthony Hopkins, Robin Wright Penn and Angelina Jolie are recognisably themselves even after being put through the motion capture process that combines physical performance with near photo-real animation. But Beowulf himself is a warrior of great stature and bearing in whom even the affable Winstone struggles to see a resemblance.
"When I read the script and it got to the part where he's 6ft 6ins with an eight-pack and in his 20s I thought they must have sent it to the wrong Ray Winstone," he chuckles. "But then you see the artwork and talk to Bob and he tells you about his vision and you hear what a great story this is."
Beowulf certainly looks the part, even if his abs suggest the kind of gym honed regime that was a little unusual in the sixth century AD. He travels across the sea to meet with King Hrothgar whose realm is terrorised by the unspeakable man-eating beast Grendel. As he steps ashore and announces himself, the unmistakable Winstone timbre is evident.
"I've come to kill your monstah!" he announces, and it's a boast he soon makes good on. But this is the only the beginning of his problems, as Zemeckis and screenwriters Roger Avary and Neil Gaiman offer an imaginative twist on the ancient epic tale. Winstone's contribution is considerable, as this mighty warrior grows weary after so many battles, and so much is communicated through his voice.
"I had the advantage of not reading the original story," he adds, "in which I understand he was a very one dimensional kind of character, a hero-warrior and that was it. So, I didn't have that baggage to bring with me, I attempted to bring something else to the character. But then when you go through the rigmarole of making the film and sit in the cinema two years later your jaw hits the floor."
The rigmarole he refers to involves some 240 cameras filming the actors as they play out scenes in a sparsely furnished room, wearing clothing embedded with scores of sensors that map their movements in great detail. And then the computer boffins and animators get to work.
"The thing is," Winstone continues, "when you mention computers I think people find it hard to comprehend that there's a performance there. They look at it as something that's just been made by a computer. The difference is that when you make a normal film you put on the make-up and build the scenery before you start shooting.
"With this way of working you still perform - to me it's the purest form of performance - and then they put the make-up, the costumes and scenery on after. And I've got to be honest with you, this is the most physical job I've ever worked on."
He has matured from the rugged youth who made a searing impression when he wielded a sock stuffed with snooker balls to memorable effect in Scum 28 years ago. Winstone is 50 now and in the prime of his acting life, with acclaimed performances in films like Nil By Mouth, The War Zone, Sexy Beast, Cold Mountain and The Departed, and a role in the new Indiana Jones movie already in the can.
He has been animated before of course, in The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe, but as Mr Beaver he was even less recognisable than he is here. Yet still he feels a wistfulness for Beowulf's idealised rendering of manhood that takes him on a bit of a reverie.
"It's quite sad in a way," he sighs, "because you're looking at yourself, facially anyway, and see what you looked like when you were 20. I didn't have the eight-pack, more's the pity, but it's like revisiting someone you used to know. I guess you're always looking outwards and you kind of think at 20 you're always going to be a young, rather good looking man and then you get sad about that."
He does recognise that in bringing cutting edge technology to bear on such an ancient story Robert Zemeckis is leading the way for others to tell great stories in innovative new ways.
"I guess this opens doors for actors," he nods. "There's parts that you'd be too old to play physically, such as this for me, and maybe parts that you weren't capable of playing at a certain age that you can play now. I can play Marilyn Monroe," he smiles. "Now, there's a thought."
ANWAR BRETT
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