What memories do you hold of Neil Armstrong's moon-walk?
Memories of that day? Everybody asks me this and I'm completely appalled to say I have no recollection at all. I can tell you where I was when Kennedy was shot - which was in the common room at school. I heard about it on the old valve radio. At the time of Armstrong's landing, I was at university rehearsing a play. Given that I failed everything that year, it's unlikely that I was in the library doing an essay at the time. I was probably playing cards in the cafeteria or doing the crossword.
What do you think of Cliff Buxton, your character?
He's a compendium of all the kind and avuncular people that have crossed my paths over the years. I like that note of sadness that resonates in him; the sense of loss and the dignity with which he purports himself. His principal thing is not running his team as if he were a sergeant major - he's a good leader who doesn't seem to be leading.
What type of film do you see "The Dish" as?
It's a curiosity because it does run against type. There are two leads in the film - but they're not individuals. One is the town community, and the other is the community surrounding the dish. That doesn't happen very often. There's also no ghastly bloodletting or hideous sexual assaults, or things that have become the vocabulary of modern film. It's a reminder of what a wonderful thing it is to be a human being, what marvellous things human beings are capable of. Not just spectacular - if meaningless - things like sending a rocket to the moon, but just the commonplace achievements of, for instance, performing a kindness.
