Stephen Frears: Baftas 'arse-achingly' boring, says director

Stephen Frears is in a prickly mood. "God, what do you want?" he groans, as I introduce myself. Frears's assistant had arranged the interview for Thursday evening, but when we speak he seems a little offhand. "Is this a good time?" I ask, hesitantly.

"I don't know," comes the reply. "I'll tell you when we get to the end of it."

The audience hasn't started well. For a man revered as one of Britain's greatest living film-makers, Frears manages to find a lot to moan about.

There's Blair and his asylum policy and Blair and the war, for starters. As for the state of British cinema, it's better not to ask. "The problems in the British film industry are tedious," he snaps. "They're arse-achingly boring." He is equally dismissive of the Baftas, the annual backslapping parade at which Frears's latest film, Dirty Pretty Things, will tonight compete for two awards, including the coveted prize for best British film. "Oh, the awards season," he yawns, "it's kind of boring."

So what does please Stephen Frears, 61, the prolific Leicester-born director whose oeuvre has encompassed everything from ethnic social drama (My Beautiful Laundrette) through literary biopic (Prick Up Your Ears) to sumptuous period piece (Dangerous Liaisons)?

"I read a script that I liked," he offers, finally yielding, as I ask what drove him to make Dirty Pretty Things, his grittiest attempt yet to explore the seamy underbelly of British life. I can hear myself breathing a sigh of relief.

"It was one of those moments when you read a script and it rings true," he adds. "The material was immediately very striking. It was very original. I believed it. I think it goes on."

Frears is referring to the grim practice of organ-trading, a sordid industry whose murky dealings underpin the narrative of Dirty Pretty Things.

The film, a combination of taut thriller, doomed romance and hard-hitting social commentary, revolves around an attempt by a desperate asylum-seeker (Audrey Tautou) to obtain a UK passport – if necessary, by selling her own body parts.

At times, the movie is so harrowing that it is difficult to believe Frears came to the subject matter by accident. Yet he snorts at the idea that he made the film as part of some kind of personal crusade.

"No, I don't think remotely," he says. "It was rather cold-blooded. I don't really think like that."

However, the heartfelt nature of some scenes – particularly those focusing on the helplessness of Tautou's character, Senay, – suggests he cares about his subject. Again, a blank. "Research" was done at script stage, he insists, adding: "I don't want to hear tragic stories. It's too upsetting."

When probed directly about the plight of asylum-seekers, however, and the way they are sometimes portrayed by the Prime Minister and David Blunkett, Frears comes alive.

"Historically, England has done rather well out of immigrants," he begins. "Gordon Brown said in his Budget last year that one of the reasons the economy had grown so much was the contribution of the immigrant community.

"What I'm continually astonished by is that the Government is failing to reflect this in other things it says and does. What seems irresponsible is its inability to try to explain this to people.

"[Asylum-seekers] don't have three heads. They are people with legs and arms, who live and breathe and bleed like everyone else.

"Personally, I find [immigration] very benign. I think it's improved life."

He adds: "That demonstration last week wasn't about war, it was all about Blair, and people saying they've had enough of him and his policies on things like asylum-seekers.

"His response seems to have been to become even more authoritarian and right-wing, which is totally wrong."

That said, there are no prizes for guessing where Frears stands on the Iraq crisis. "It just seems to be irrelevant," he says. "Until you solve Palestine you will get nowhere."

"Irrelevant" is a word Frears is fond of using. When asked about his next project, The Deal, a one-off ITV drama about the turbulent relationship between Blair and Brown, he gives characteristically short shrift.

The film focuses, as its title suggests, on the famous "agreement" between them over who should run for the Labour leadership after John Smith's death in 1994. When I ask if it explores their ideological as well as emotional differences, I hit a wall.

"It's a gay film," Frears laughs, and for a moment it's not entirely clear if he is joking. "No, seriously, I think your question is irrelevant."

Okay, let's try a different tack. Is it more than a two-hander? "There are other people in it as well as Blair and Brown, but it's no good asking me who – I'm not going to tell you."

Again, the shutters are down. Yet as Frears bids me adieu, a crack shows, briefly, in his curmudgeonly exterior. "Take care," he says.

Biography

1941 Born in Leicester. Educated at Gresham's School, Holt, Norfolk, and Trinity College, Cambridge.

1962 Joins London's Royal Court Theatre on a directorial apprenticeship.

1966 First film job, as assistant director on Karel Reisz's Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment.

1968 Moves into directing for television,with Tom Grattan's War.

1972 Directs first feature film, Gumshoe.

1987 Prick Up Your Ears nominated for Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival.

1989 Dangerous Liaisons wins three Oscars.

2003 Dirty Pretty Things nominated for two Baftas.