Mark Strong takes the punches

The cockerel isn't exactly a conventional cast member of the traditional children's Nativity play. Not that that was bothering Mark Strong when he jumped on board a dawn flight from the Irish location of his latest film to London last week in time to see his eldest son Gabriel's acting debut as the raucous rooster in his school's Christmas performance.

"There he was, not five yet, with a yellow marigold glove on his head for a crest, opening the show with a song," Strong smiles with paternal pride.

Now, purists would say there probably wasn't. But then purists have also been muttering darkly about the historical accuracy of Strong senior's own latest film, Sherlock Holmes. Directed by Guy Ritchie, it controversially casts Robert Downey Jr as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Victorian sleuth and Jude Law as a rather dashing Dr Watson. Strong plays Lord Blackwood, the dastardly, occult-dabbling villain in a typically brainteasing Holmesian plot.

"I know, I know," says Strong, a little wearily. "People keep saying, ‘It's Guy Ritchie. How can Guy Ritchie do Holmes? He does gangster movies. And to cast an American who isn't tall and aquiline as Holmes.'

"Honestly, Guy isn't at all bothered by those criticisms. He knew he could do Holmes in a way that served both his love of the Conan Doyle stories and his own style. He wasn't trying to shoehorn Sherlock into something he wasn't. And he knew he was getting a consummate professional in Downey Jr."

The successful relationships between Downey Jr, Law and Strong was the result, he says, of Ritchie's able direction. This is the third time Strong has starred in a Ritchie film (after RocknRolla and Revolver)

His role as the irredeemable villain is a slight departure for Strong, a versatile actor whose parts have included the devious royal adviser Sir John Conroy in The Young Victoria, a psychologically unstable astronaut in Danny Boyle's Sunshine, and King John's vicious henchman Sir Godfrey in the forthcoming blockbuster Robin Hood.

In Sherlock Holmes, Strong's fight scenes are hugely exciting. "You should have seen my knuckles after filming," he says, holding out his hands. "Robert and I do a lot of punching. And believe me, he packs a mean punch."

Hollywood calling

Strong, 46, has always said Tinseltown wasn't for him. Now, he isn't so sure. "I've always said I wasn't the Hollywood type but now, here I am: I've just done Robin Hood and I'm about to film John Carter of Mars, a huge Disney/Pixar film. The good thing, though, is that I haven't had to leave the country."

And fatherhood is the reason that is so important. "It came along at the right time for me," says Strong, who has two sons. And, while his eldest, Gabriel, has now made his stage debut, Strong would prefer his boys did anything but acting. "There is so much insecurity," he says.

For all that, Strong, these days, has his choice of parts. "Stage or screen?" he muses, torn between them. "I have to say I absolutely love film. There is something utterly intoxicating about it. At first I thought it was cheating, doing retakes until you get it right. Now I see it as a way of refining a moment."

With so many parts being offered, Strong is seldom "resting", but, when he does, family comes first. He is, however, fond of poker.

"My friends Dexter Fletcher [the actor] and Jamie Oliver and I like to play. My missus lets me go to that because Jamie always cooks for us before we play, and I always tell her, ‘Well, I can't turn down a meal from Jamie Oliver.'"