The Big Picture

Clive Owen is a big fan of film noir, particularly Humphrey Bogart’s work, and was excited to play Sam Spade in ‘Monsieur Spade.’
Owen prepared for the role by immersing himself in Bogart’s films and listening to his dialogue every morning.
The key to embodying Sam Spade was to maintain the rhythm and cadence of Bogart’s speech while adding his own interpretation.

Co-created by Scott Frank and Tom Fontana, the AMC six-episode crime drama Monsieur Spade follows legendary Detective Sam Spade (Clive Owen) while he’s enjoying a peaceful and quiet retirement in the South of France in 1963, twenty years after the events of The Maltese Falcon. After six nuns are brutally murdered at a convent and Spade learns of the return of an adversary, he’s drawn in to investigate while also attempting to protect a 15-year-old (Cara Bossom) who’s not at all impressed with him and find a young boy with mysterious abilities.

During this interview with Collider, Owen talked about his love for film noir and Humphrey Bogart, why Sam Spade was a dream role, working with the stylized dialogue, that prostate exam scene, all the smoking, and what made this such a great experience. He also mentioned working with Daisy Ridley on the upcoming Martin Campbell film Cleaner, and the type of role he finds the most intimidating.

Monsieur Spade
The famous detective Sam Spade is now 60 and living as an expat in the south of France in 1963.Release Date January 14, 2024 Cast Clive Owen , Rebecca Root , Denis Menochet , Stanley Weber , Louise Bourgoin , Matthew Beard , Chiara Mastroianni , Clotilde Mollet Writers Scott Frank , Tom Fontana Streaming Service(s) AMC+ Directors Scott Frank

‘Monsieur Spade’ Was a Dream Gig for Clive Owen
Image via AMC

Collider: When we last spoke for A Murder at the End of the World, I asked you what made you want to do this series and you said that you were a huge film noir fan. What was your gateway drug into film noir?

OWEN: Probably [Humphrey] Bogart. I’m a big fan of those forties movies. I love that era and I’m a huge Bogart fan. There was a time, a number of years ago, when I was gonna do a Marlowe movie, for Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe. It’s just a genre that I’ve always loved. I love that kind of character. So, this was a bit of a dream gig. When Scott Frank, who I rank so highly as both a writer and a director, calls up and says, “What about reinventing Sam Spade?,” I just took a picture of my Maltese Falcon poster on the wall and said, “You’ve come to the right guy. I’d love to do it.”

Did you have any other posters on your wall, or just The Maltese Falcon?

OWEN: I’ve got a few Bogart posters. I’ve got a small Casablanca. I’ve got The Big Sleep. I’ve got a few.

What impression did The Maltese Falcon make on you when you saw it? What was it about that movie that really made it stand out for you?

OWEN: Maltese Falcon was unusual, in that it had a lot of dialogue. When I realized we were gonna do this project, I did a deep dive back into Maltese Falcon and all of Bogey’s films and drown in that era and how they did things. You think Bogart is so very cool and laid back, but he’s super nimble with his dialogue. He can rip through a lot of dialogue very quickly with a lot of ease and not make it seem effortful at all. When you watch those movies, I was always attracted to the rhythm and his cadence and his restraint. There’s something so stoic about those classic forties private detectives. They don’t over demonstrate. For me, they’re just the epitome of cool.

Related ‘Monsieur Spade’ Review: Clive Owen Steps Into Humphrey Bogart’s Big Shoes As the great philosopher Kendall Roy once said, “Big, big shoes. Big, big shoes.”

What was the key to embodying this version of Sam Spade for you? He’s such an interesting guy because he does seem to take comfort in solitude. There are times when he’s just sitting there alone, but then he also does have this very specific way of speaking. Was there something that really helped you get there with him?

OWEN: To be honest with you, I just drowned in Bogart, going back and watching everything. I lifted his dialogue from a number of his films, just so I could hear him speaking, and I put it all onto one long voice note and I would listen to it every morning, just to get me into the mood. Scott did the very lovely, clever thing of reinventing it by setting it in a completely different place, in early sixties France. We still wanted him to feel like the same guy, living in a different place. So, that’s what I did. I just drowned in Bogie.

There’s something so interesting about listening to the dialogue on this. When you’re doing that kind of dialogue, do you have a moment where it all clicks in for you or does it feel like something you’re always tweaking a little bit because it is such specific stylized dialogue?

OWEN: Yeah, but there’s something that I love about that. It’s a bit like Clifford Odets, the playwright, where in the wrong hands, it can seem really hammy and over the top. But if you hit it right, it really sings. Scott is such a brilliant writer and he wrote the dialogue. I read it and said to him, “Look, don’t freak out. I’m not gonna do an impersonation, but I am drowning a bit in Bogart and I wanna go down this path, in terms of the language and the rhythm of speech. He said when he wrote the thing, he couldn’t write for Spade without hearing Bogart saying it, and he did that brilliantly. But the one thing you realize, when you dig into Bogart and his work, is that he is super fast. He actually talks really fast. Scott writes great dialogue. There were very long dialogue scenes, but the key really was to not over indulge it and to lick through it at a good pace, and then the dialogue really crackles. We discovered that time and time again. Doing it at a good pace and a good lick, the rhythms take care of themselves and suddenly the thing really sings.

Related The 10 Best Movies and TV Shows Written by Scott Frank, Ranked ‘The Queen’s Gambit’ writer has some very impressive credits across movies and TV.

Clive Owen Never Expected to See Sam Spade Get a Prostate Exam in ‘Monsieur Spade’
Image via AMC

When you finally got on set to play Sam Spade, could you ever have imagined it would include a scene where you’d be getting a prostate exam?

OWEN: I had a running joke with Scott. I said, “I thought I was coming in and was gonna put the hat on, and here I am, getting my prostrate checked, and my health is not good. I’ve been duped. This isn’t Sam Spade. What’s going on?” But no, it was great. It’s a classic riff on the amount they smoke in those movies.

What do you think it says about this guy that, even though he’s been told just how bad smoking is for him, he can’t seem to stop doing it? Does he just want to embrace his vices? Is it as simple as he just can’t stop?

OWEN: Yeah, talk to smokers. There are a lot of people that could relate to that. I’m an ex-smoker. I smoked a lot when I was young, but I gave it up many, many years ago. But I do understand the addiction to smoking, for sure.

How hard was it to keep having to cough throughout this? Does that start to hurt after a while when you’re forcing yourself to do that?

OWEN: Yeah, there was the coughing, but also in some of the flashbacks to the earlier stuff, there was the smoking. Obviously, when you shoot scenes, you do them over and over again, so sometimes it would be a lot, for sure.

He also doesn’t seem like someone who likes or respects too many people, which is why I particularly enjoyed the banter between him and the nun. What was that like to shoot?

OWEN: Scott is so great at that kind of dialogue. There’s a reason that these classic characters stand the test of time, and one of them is that they have a moral compass. Although they’re very restrained, and they’re not demonstrative, and they don’t show their feelings, they are driven to try to do the right thing. That’s something I think we always find really attractive.

Clive Owen Built his ‘Monsieur Spade’ Noir Detective Through the Rhythm of the Dialogue
Image via AMC

As a fan of film noir and Bogart, what was the most fulfilling thing about playing this character?

OWEN: It was really getting those scripts and the joy of the dialogue. Scott is also a big fan of the genre and also a big fan of the original movie. When I first started to get the scripts and see those big chunks of dialogue, the rhythms were so good. It’s such a treat. Sometimes when you’re shooting, you spend a lot of work trying to make something rhythmically right and figuring out the best way to get through it. But when you get somebody of his caliber, it’s like driving a great car. The rhythms are there for you. Just don’t mess it up and don’t get too clever. Just commit, and the thing will sing.

Was this a hard character then to leave behind? Do you miss playing him or were you happy to leave him in a box when you were done?

OWEN: I had one of the best times. There were many times on this shoot where I took a beat and I just said, “There’s no better place to be for me, as an actor.” I got on great with Scott. He’s a brilliant writer and he’s a great director. There I was, playing a character that I love in a genre that I love. I was in the middle of it going, “There’s no place I’d rather be, as an actor, right now.” That was a real treat.

Have you finished shooting Cleaner?

OWEN: I’ve done that already. I did that a little while ago. That was a lot of fun because I’d worked with (director) Martin [Campbell] before. I did a film with him, Beyond Borders, many years ago, so it was really good fun to re-engage with him.

What was it like to work with Daisy Ridley?

OWEN: I didn’t actually do too much with Daisy’s character in that. I’m a slightly separate storyline. But I know Daisy and I’ve worked with her before. I saw her, but I didn’t actually do much work with her on this one.

Clive Owen Is Always Intimidated By Taking on Real-Life Characters
Image via AMC

Out of all the projects that you’ve done in your career, which were you most nervous to walk on set for, the first day?

OWEN: I think it’s always a challenge when you’re playing somebody real, and I’ve played both [Ernest] Hemingway and [Bill] Clinton. That was super daunting because there’s no hiding and no actor interpretation or, “This is just how I saw it.” That’s always very intimidating. But in some ways, I like to be scared. That’s often where the best work is when you put yourself in those situations. What’s the worst that can happen? You’re not good. That’s happened before, and it will happen again. It’s not a big deal. Where you get better is when you push yourself and challenge yourself.

Monsieur Spade airs on Sunday nights on AMC and is available to stream on AMC+. Check out the trailer:

Watch on AMC+