Considine considers ...

Paddy Considine - in all honesty

With writer, Richard T Kelly at the helm, and clips from modern classics A Room for Romeo Brass, The Last Resort, 24 Hour Party People, My Summer of Love and Dead Man's Shoes, Paddy Considine steered us through the milestones in a career that was not really supposed to happen.

Considine explained that he has never studied acting. He landed himself in some school plays thanks to the guiding hands of some intuitive teachers who realised that this tearaway pupil had more to offer than just trouble. This encouragement also fed early writing that made Considine realise he had a talent for telling stories.

His hook-up with mate, Shane Meadows is now legendary: they started as band mates in their early teens, dropped out of performing arts college together and have now collaborated on several short and feature films. They've been dubbed 'the Scorcese and De Niro of the Midlands' - a title Considine rejects vehemently as pure spin and nothing to do with the truth. And if one thing was clear from Considine's comments as he examined the roles he had created, the research he had painstakingly undertaken, the scripts he had written and contributed to: truth is something very important to him. In fact, he seems incapable of dishonesty. It could be why he appears scarey and edgy on screen. You feel he'll tell it like it is. And so, when confronted with an ill-considered audience question, his answer is ... well, terse, as you could probably guess! Far from unsettling, it is wholely refreshing and obviously what draws audiences to his performances. It also explains why Hollywood is now courting him for major character roles.

As he told it, this need for honesty informs Considine's acting technique - well, yes, Method, if you like. It is the reason why he finds it difficult to watch himself and fellow actors in certain scenes. It is exposing and can make him feel embarrassed and self-conscious. It is why Meadows has banned him from the screening of rushes in case they taint his instinctual characterisation.

Considine says he learned about characterisation by ‘being around characters'. He says the crucial point for him was studying photography. He says: 'I learned how to act by being a photographer. I learned everything from that course.' He said he 'became' the people he photographed. 'The character inhabits your brain', he said, 'I've no control over it.' An emerging instinct for directing also developed as he began to move characters around to photograph them.

After nearly ten years of feature film work, Considine says 'I only feel that in the last year I've become a professional actor. It has taken me all this time to learn the trade. I'm only now equipped with the tools to make it work.'

It is at this point that he has chosen to move into directing, with his first short film, Dog Altogether. His empathy for the actor's creative process and his respect for, and trust in, the director should make for an easy transition into that new role. He says as a director he wants to make the actors feel a part of something creative. His aim is for 'performances, character, emotional drive', not fantastically framed shots.

Dog Altogether is being developed into a feature-length film, Tyrannosaurus, for release in 2010.