Clive Owen's Reel Nightmare

Actor On New Film, And Balancing Work With Family Life

(CBS)  This year has been very good for Clive Owen. He started 2005 with an Oscar nomination and Golden Globe win for "Closer," which co-starred Julia Roberts. He had a big hit in the spring starring in "Sin City," and now he co-stars with Jennifer Aniston in the new thriller "Derailed."

"It reminded me of those old Hitchcock films where characters are thrown into nightmares where nothing is quite as it seems. It is full of twists and turns," Owen tells The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith.

In "Derailed," Owen plays an ordinary man thrust into an extraordinary situation.

"His marriage is not fantastic," Owen says. "He's got a kid, and he's got lots of work, and he meets the most beautiful, fresh, inspiring, humorous, attentive, lovely woman and he falls. And, you know, they're both married. They both shouldn't but they do. They end up in a hotel room. A horrific thing happens, and he's thrown into a nightmare, which just keeps spiraling out of control."

In a lot of his movies, Owen plays the tough guy, but in this new film takes the role of the victim.

"I was very interested in playing such a victim, really," Owen says. "The story sort of attacks him. And for the film to work and to be completely convincing, you've got to believe in the nightmare that he is going through."

The women Owen has worked with are very complimentary and this film is not the exception. It was actually during a chance meeting that Julia Roberts told Jennifer Aniston she had to work with Owen.

"That's lovely," Owen says about being well regarded by his co-stars. He says the feeling is mutual.

"You asked me about Jennifer Aniston and you asked me about Julia Roberts. I'll say the same about them. It's a mutual thing," he says. "There's something very wonderful about working with really good people."

When Owen is not on the big screen, he enjoys time with his children, and says it is hard for him when he has to go on location.

"It's the toughest part," he says. "In the early days, I thought the good actors have substantial bits of downtime. You'll spend a lot of time with the children. And I thought well this is good. A lot of fathers don't have that.

"But you realize very quickly that children love routine. They love knowing where they're at. And if Dad comes home, gives them their bath and puts them to bed, that that happens every day, that's good. The trouble with our game is that Dad can be around and do everything for three or four weeks, but then can disappear. And kids find that unstabling because they don't — however much they're enjoying the company of their father or their mother — they worry that at any point, they might take off. I'm here in New York now and my kids are in London. Whoosh, he's gone again. And that's a difficult thing."