Fry chooses a new direction

Here to promote Bright Young Things - his first film as a director - he's wearing one of those T-shirts that have a Velcro panel on the front to which you attach letters and, of course, the film's name is emblazoned on his (not insignificant protuberance of) stomach.

It's somewhat of a dream project for Fry, based on Evelyn Waugh's novel Vile Bodies. As the favourite book of one former Basingstoke lassie, Ms Elizabeth Hurley, it's about the trials of a gang of rich, posh "bright, young things" who live fast and burn out which, for Fry, is something of a relevant tale for today.

"I thought that the fact that the main themes, the main concerns of the book were celebrity and gossip and a life lived in the public life was naturally relevant," he explains.

"On a practical level, I didn't choose it, it chose me. I was asked to do a screenplay for Vile Bodies, and the reason I said yes was because I felt some connection with the book or felt that I might be able to bring something to it in terms of a screenplay.

"It was a mixture of delight in the idea of a period film, which had taste and energy and the sparkle of youth instead of the usual, languid, more drawn out elegance with which we associate costume drama."

Was he nervous about taking a seat in the director's chair? "To some extent yes, there's no question that it's one of those jobs where people look at you all the time and are constantly asking questions. 'Where should we do this', 'what building should we use', 'how do you want to do this', but that all happens for three months every single day in pre-production, so you get pretty used to it.

"In the first five minutes on set on the first day of shooting, there's a bit of 'ummmm, what are people expecting me to look like', and you learn to stare at the toes of your shoes a great deal, looking very thoughtful and intense."

Sitting just a few feet away from Fry for me, the journalist, is a very difficult task indeed. Having watched him throughout the years, and chortled at his nasal way of telling any story in a very comic fashion, I forget that I'm there to ask questions and start laughing my leg off.

Some of Stephen's "bright things" are also here today, Fenella Woolgar (Agatha), Stephen Campbell Moore (Adam) and the fabulous Michael Sheen (Miles), who is delayed in traffic before appearing at the back with his hands in the air and dark sunglasses on. Very comedy.

Notably, the former two are relative unknowns in key roles. How did that come about?

"The quality that comes across from Stephen and Fenella is something you can't predict. You sit down and write a wish list of the characteristics of say Adam and Agatha and how you imagine them to be. The beauty of acting is that it's not like music where there's a violin part and, oh good, it's a Stradivarius, but a human being comes along and they add the texture of their voice, their eyes, their appearance, their manner, their experience, their talent, all these things that are completely overladen and integrated with the text that was there before you."

"In the case of Stephen, his performance is astonishing for someone so young and inexperienced with film, although he had the experience of a very successful season with the RSC. He did a little scene with Emily Mortimer and, from the first day on set, I just knew he was right. And with Fenella, I still have the piece of paper where I was doing a casting session and we were seeing 20 people that day. Then I saw this name that looked like a high score in Scrabble and I just wrote, 'Agatha has walked into the room', which is the character she plays."

But Fenella wasn't so confident that she had succeeded in that interview.

"I thought I definitely haven't got this part because he wouldn't catch my eye! Stephen commented on my shoes and I thought 'right you've blown that one'. I was really nervous obviously, just as I am now, because we're new to all this. I was terrified the whole meeting and then I got the call back to read with a different actor and I thought I'd definitely blown it because none of the notes were for me and Stephen didn't look at me once. I thought my only chance of being in a big feature film was gone."

Stephen butts in at this point to explain himself.

"At a casting session when the actor is right, you just want to get rid of them! When somebody's completely wrong, you look straight into their eyes and talk to them so they don't feel hard done by. They feel that they've been given a proper chance so you get them to read it 10 times, give them notes so that they go away and think you have given them a chance. But if someone's right, you just go, ok that's fine, see you on set."

Michael Sheen inhabits one of the more showy parts in the film. Formerly well known as the partner of Kate Beckinsale (she left him for the director of Underworld in which they recently co-starred), he's beginning to make the claim to mega-fame, thanks to a ream of brilliant and diverse appearances. Where he's a traumatised vampire down the multiplex this week in said film Underworld, he was Tony Blair on TV last week in Channel Four's excellent The Deal.

In person, Sheen is cute, cute, cute. He has the most interesting and delectable face I think I've ever seen, with a turned up nose.

And he's delighted to have won the part of Miles. "I just loved it - I thought he was such a colourful character and very different to anything that I'd done before, although apparently all I do now is play camp characters.

"I got to wear more make-up than Fenella and Emily put together and have a different outfit every day. It was just a great job to do and to work with Stephen on his first directing job was fantastic."

Stephen retorts, "Michael is selling himself short. There is a scene where he breaks down towards the end of the film which is, to some extent, the heart of the whole crash-and-burn horror that these young people have put themselves through, which is absolutely an extraordinary piece of filmmaking. He is quite, quite brilliant and we're very proud to have him."

Aw. And Sheen isn't the only person Fry was glad to have. His previous fame and connections within the acting world mean that the film is littered with the great and good.

That was good luck, eh?

"One of the things I'd always banked on was that I might be able to pull favours to get some big names to play the grown-ups, if you like. We couldn't have been luckier.

"We picked a whole series of peaches in the garden of elderly casting like Peter O'Toole, Dan Ackroyd, Stockhard Channing, John Mills, Jim Broadbent, Rich E G and Simon Callow. That allowed the money people to feel secure, that there was a kind of basis, a huge deep basement, of known people.

"Consequently, I didn't have to plant vapid shallow Americans in there."

Thank goodness for that.

Bright Young Things opens across the UK this week.