CF: Everyone else would think so. But not you? CF: No, because the voice of the writer I am interpreting is always going to be different. It is terribly important to me... ... To be different? CF: No -- I am not looking for transformation. That is a banal pursuit. I want to try to make it authentic. It is not about this guy has a nasal voice... or is gruff... or has a funny accent. I am not looking for those things -- that is trickery for me. What I am looking for is a way of inhabiting the writer's voice. Would you say the voice is the self in a way? CF: My sister is a voice therapist, and has written a thesis on voice and identity and how closely connected they are. I struggled with minor voice problems in my 20s. I developed an injury on a vocal cord. It produced a node and I had it chopped off. This impeded the way I spoke. It had a huge effect. I remember the therapist saying: "People don't appreciate how much distress can be caused by vocal limitations, particularly by someone who has got a big mouth." It can be hard to shut me up... I gather there was a "raconteur rule" in rehearsal? TH: There was. I imposed an anecdote limit on Geoffrey and Colin in rehearsal, of about two minutes. On the shoot, it was a strict 30 seconds. There was a controversy about the film's