Cheers for Frears

In 1985 Stephen Frears was the talk of the British film industry. His new film My Beautiful Laundrette was an indecent success for the young FilmFour, poking fun at Thatcher's Britain within the context of an interracial gay love story. So who was this hip young gunslinger? As it turned out, the bright young hope was a 44-year-old Cambridge graduate. 'I thought it was quite funny,' chuckles Frears now. 'I was supposed to be this young, iconoclastic director, and people were rather shocked that I was a middle-aged married man with children. I remember a friend of mine kept saying, "Well, I thought it was made by somebody who wore leather.î So I guess I was a disappointment.'

With his new film Dirty Pretty Things, Frears is back in the capital again, dropping in on the lives of the invisible immigrant community that oils the wheels of commerce here, driving our cabs, carrying our bags and generally cleaning up after us. Though it follows a thriller structure, after a bloody discovery in a hotel room, it's the latest in a long line of thoughtful and socially orientated films from a director who claims to be in the business purely by fluke.

The entertainment business first beckoned Frears as a boy in Nottingham, he says. 'I remember seeing Ann Bell, who was a very glamorous actress at the time, walk down Chapel Bar with red stockings and a beehive hairdo. There seemed to be not much else in life compared with that!' After his studies, Frears moved to London and started work at the Royal Court Theatre with productions of Waiting For Godot and Inadmissible EvidenceThere, the late Karel Reisz took him under his wing, first for the stage and then as assistant director on his 1966 film Morgan: A Suitable Case For Treatment 'Karel moved me into the cinema,' smiles Frears. It was by chance, really. It certainly was on my part. There was no masterplan, it was much more chaotic than that.'

Then, after 'sitting in' on Albert Finney's movie Charlie Bubbles, Frears made the leap to director in 1971 with the laconic neo-noir Gumshoe .'I didn't know how to make a film, but it was a time when young people were beginning to break through with less experience.'

For the next decade, Frears worked in television, most notably on a series of plays with Alan Bennett, but his return to the feature trade was cemented by 1984's terrific low-budget thriller The Hit. It marked the start of a string of successes that inevitably brought him to America's attention. 'After I made Sammy And Rosie Get Laid in 1987,' he says, 'I remember being told that Scorsese had been inquiring about me and I was asked if I knew a book called The Grifters. So I went to New York to meet Scorsese to talk about it. Slowly we found a writer, Donald Westlake, and while it inched forward, I went away to make Dangerous Liaisons, and when that was a success, everybody was very surprised. They thought I'd go off to some multi-billion dollar movie, but instead I made The Grifters.'

Since then, Frears has split his work between America and home, but how does he really feel about the American film industry? 'I should be on my knees with gratitude,' he beams. 'I've had the most wonderful time. I've made mistakes but I've learned an awful lot. For instance, I thought I'd be good at studio films, and it turned out that I wasn't, which took me by surprise.'

And by this, he seems to be referring to the hig-profile Jeckyll And Hyde fiasco Mary Reilly, which starred Julia Roberts. 'I turned out to be too independent,' he continues. 'I don't know why. I think it was the money. I couldn't figure out why they were spending so much . Somebody said to me recently, "Oh, you're one of those guys who's better with not too much money. Perhaps they're right!'

Another of Frears's trademarks is his aptitude for handling actors. Frears, for example, gave Penelope Cruz a break in 1998's Hi-Lo Country and arguably discovered Jack Black in High Fidelity (2000). Again, though, he claims this is purely an accident. 'It's hard to explain,' he shrugs. 'You simply provide a space for people to show off their talents - I'm interested in novelty, the obligation to provide something new.

The casting coup this time is Amelie star Audrey Tautou, who plays a Turkish maid in Dirty Pretty Things. 'I met her and liked her immensely and I knew she'd be great,' he says. 'It was only afterwards that I realised she'd mainly done light comedy, but at the time she was looking to change..'

So where next: Hollywood or Pinewood? Neither it seems, and for the moment Frears is enjoying some quiet time. 'I go rather sort of blank between films,' he says, 'and I wait for the well to be filled, as it were.' There is, however, talk of an Elvis picture, which is currently being written. Of course, he is as vague as ever when asked how he thinks it will turn out. 'Dunno!' he roars. 'I'll tell you when I've made it. It's like a Gordian knot, there's a thread you have to find. But I'm sure it'll sort itself out.'

Dirty Pretty Things opens Fri 13 Dec.