STV, 5 April 2013

VIDEO as well Rufus Sewell takes his first major role in a British movie since 1996, in crime thriller 'All Things To All Men'.

He stars alongside Gabriel Byrne and Toby Stephens, in the tale of a professional thief caught between a gangster and an amoral police detective.

Sewell returns to home ground to play corrupt cop Parker – delighted at the change from the roles he's usually offered by his fellow Brits.

"One of the reasons I went to America was because for some reason people didn't consider me in any capacity other than period TV, or whatever, or sometimes films, but – so that's been very frustrating for me, so I've ended up looking elsewhere and having been very grateful for the career I've ended up with," muses Sewell.

"If I could basically have been in very low budget, British independent films and nothing else, I'd rather have done that. And hopefully that will - that's something that's still possibly open to me.

“But the reason I leapt at this was because a director was offering me the part to play a Londoner in a modern, a film set in the modern times, so I said yes."

The low budget indie was shot on the hoof, taking in 102 locations during its seven-week schedule. Sewell found the fast paced guerilla approach thrilling.

"It gives you energy," says the star, "I love the idea that you jump into a car, go to a corner and say, 'ok, you're going to stand there, you're going to come here, quickly, before they realize' you know, and that means the people passing by, there's an energy of it, that it's not like you wait for the extras to go, same old characters walking past, people are really walking past.

“By the time people realise there's filming going on, hopefully you've done it and you move on and that's really – for me that's kind of glamorous and exciting, that was really good fun."

Co-star MC Harvey speeds things up even more with a chase scene on foot. The So Solid Crew star-turned-actor plays a small role as Curtis, who fills in some gaps for Parker's maverick police team. Terence Maynard and Leo Gregory play the cops who have to catch him first - not easy to act, when your co-star is also a former non-league footballer.

"When I did that running scene I was running faster than the camera man," recalls Harvey. "And the scene was like 7 O'clock in the morning in Old Street. And I'm known for running, I'm a sprinter.

“George (Isaac) said 'I've never in my life seen anyone that's run faster than the tracker'. So I actually had to slow my run down because I was running that quick, the camera man was like, 'This kid's unbelievable, he's gone.' It was so tiring. I think Terence (Maynard) he pulled his hamstring after the first - so you can imagine how long the day went then. So we had to do everything at half pace, but that scene was brilliant."

'All Things To All Men' is released in UK cinemas today.