In 'A Good Year', Crowe and Scott turn their hand to comedy, with Russell playing a ruthless stock trader who's willing to go to any lengths to come out on top, but whose life is turned upside down when he inherits his uncle's wine-making estate in idyllic Provence.

What was it like working with 'Gladiator' director Ridley Scott again?
He gave a quote to a magazine a couple of months ago saying that he believes we're both marginally grumpy men, but that our mood significantly lightens in each other's company. And, you know, it's an incredible privilege for me to be on a Ridley Scott set. He is one of the greatest film-makers ever to exist and for some reason he likes the way I do my part of the gig. He keeps wanting me to be on the film set with him and that, as I said, is a great privilege, so if he keeps asking me, I'm going to keep saying yes.

Do you think people will be surprised to see you in a comedy?
It depends. If people are really familiar with all the films I've done, then they know that there's things like an anally retentive Welsh Baptist, there's the gay, football-playing plumber in 'The Sum of Us', there's the ice-skating sheriff in 'Mystery, Alaska'. Comedy's not a place that I haven't been to - probably a third of all the films that I've done have been comedies.

There's quite a bit of physical comedy in 'A Good Year'. How does that compare to the physical demands of the other films you've done?
Just because it's for laughs, is it easier to do? With the physical stuff, you're going to bleed if you get it wrong, whether you're wrestling a tiger or trying to get out of a foot of cowshit. It's the same thing – the same type of problems that you're solving every day.

The thing that I've learnt over time is that it's just much more enjoyable to solve those problems with your mates, with people who you really respect and regard. There's a certain level of excitement of working with somebody new but, just as your cuddles and kisses get deeper the longer your marriage goes on – I've probably put myself down some dark alley here! – the depth of communication with Ridley increases over time because we know each other. There's a shorthand. I can tell from 50 yards away if he's cranky about something, and I can probably work out what I need to do as I walk towards him in that 50 yards. And I completely accept the role of a sidekick, or lieutenant, with Ridley, because he's a great leader.

You're known for your method acting; how did you prepare to play Max?
Well, the thing you've got to understand is that I don't do things just for the sake of doing them. In order to film something like 'A Beautiful Mind' there was a whole bunch of information I needed to take in about what happens in a schizophrenic's life - what is the physicality, how does it come to the surface, how do you know, what do you view? If I'm playing a boxer, if I don't spend six months to a year actually creating that body, then I'm just not fulfilling the character.

There's a lot of stuff about Max that I already experienced in life's big circle – I've met guys like him, funnily enough in researching other films, particularly 'The Insider', when I had to find a bunch of corporate sharks, I met a lot of people like Max. So it's only ever about fulfilling the character. I could have gone and spent X amount of time at Bloombergs, but I didn't, because it just wasn't required.

So, have you ever been on a trading floor?
Yes. But I didn't have to revisit that for this film. What we do in the movie, it's not necessarily an accurate portrayal of what goes on on the trading floor, but Ridley wanted it to have a certain feel so, instead of spending 12 scenes explaining that world, he wanted to have a single powerful scene that got the message across simply that this guy is all about money, is all about competition, and he is absolutely not about cheating to get his way. He wanted to establish that very quickly because obviously for Ridley the most interesting thing is the love letter to Provence.

There wasn't any great need for me to get deeply involved in that. I just needed to find a way to express the arch-arrogance of Max towards his fellow workers, towards what he does, and also show that even though he's very successful, and there's obviously dollars involved, he doesn't live that much of a joyful existence, and that's the journey that we're on.

Is it true that you thought up the tennis match scene between Max and Mr Duflot to make up for the lack of a battle scene in this movie?
Yeah, Ridley and I were sitting on the set musing that we didn't have any battles to fall back on in this one and there was a sequence in the movie that I wasn't enamoured with. It was kind of like an argument amongst the buyers, and it seemed very standard stuff, and we already had the tennis set up with the lesson between Henry and young Max, so I just sort of you know, based on the Fred Perry-Rene Lacoste idea. I took it back and said, 'Well, what if two unfit middle-aged men started sweating and bleeding on the tennis court? Would that be enough of a battle for you?'

In the film you become a waiter for a night to impress a woman. Have you ever done anything like that for your wife?
I've known my wife for a long, long time. We met in 1989 and got married in 2003. I did so much shit over that time to try and impress her, I couldn't even begin to tell you the list. Eventually it must just have been the weight of effort, she finally decided I was worthwhile.

Is there anything that stands out?
I hired a boat in Sydney harbour and looked up all the different places for boat hire, and nothing that was a reasonable size was available. The only boat that I could get to take her out for a private night on the harbour sat 150 people in the main salon. But I wanted a kitchen, because I wanted to cook for her, I wanted to float around the harbour and cook for her. Well, the thing arrived and it was just massive, and empty, and it definitely smelled like there were a lot of 21st-birthday parties on it.

I had all this fresh scampi and I was in the kitchen. It was like a three-minute walk just to get from the galley to where she was sitting! And she thought that that was way over the top but, of course, she was taking it from the perspective that I must have intended to get a boat of that size. But like I said, there's very little that I wouldn't do to try and impress my wife.

The young Max's mentor is his uncle Henry. Have you had a similar mentor?
Well, what I did with the costuming and stuff in the movie is an homage to an uncle of mine, David William Crowe, who was the father of Jeff and Martin Crowe, the cricket players. The cricket vest, the pipe in one scene, the cigars, the layered clothing and the blazer idea, that for me is my uncle David. David was the only person in my family with any acting experience. He played Uncle Vanya in 1969 and every year that went by the reviews got better and better in the memory. So he was the only one that I could go to directly for advice. He was very much like a sort of Henry character, you know, those little things that he has said to me over time, which absolutely shape my view of life, the way I get on with my child.

One clear example is that I'd started to work quite a bit in the theatre and there seemed to be this attitude in the theatre – I mean it had been said to me a few times – that you should never give 100% in your performance, because if an audience has seen your 100%, why would they ever buy another ticket? That struck me as really stupid – but as a lot of sensible theatre people with lots of credentials had been saying it to me I wanted to find out what my uncle thought. He said, 'Look, the only sort of person that would tell you that is the sort of person who knows that you can give more than 100%, and knows that you're capable of riding at 110% on a daily basis and it's never going to bother you because you love doing this and you're very passionate about it. So my advice to you, is ignore them, and do it your own way.' When you're a young actor there's not a lot of people you can rely on to talk to you straight and possibly cut through the base paranoia that comes with it.

What was it like working with newcomer Australian actress Abbie Cornish?
It was a lot of fun. Yeah, she's a great girl. And, you know, I don't mean to be too much of a wanker about it, but just being in that situation, it's her first major international movie - if she's got any problems she knows she's got a mate right there. Possibly, in a way setting an example, of work ethic and you know, kind of gentle leadership. But the thing is, Abbie's got it going on, she's got all she needs to be successful, so in a way it's just a privilege for me to get to work with her whilst she's young. Then I can sit back and watch her become really successful, and say, 'Hey, I worked with that kid once, you know!'

In the film Max's uncle's estate has a vineyard - are you a wine connoisseur yourself?
I'm the son of a publican, so my dad spent a lot of extra time with my brother in the cellar teaching him about kegs and beer pipes, what temperature you should be serving the beer at, and how much soap you should put in the dishwashing machine, which are lessons that I got as well. But he also, with me, focused on creating his own little wine waiter. So from a young age, he taught me about it, but we've never had similar tastes in wine, my dad and I.

You've got four films lined up: 'A Good Year', 'American Gangster', '3.10 to Yuma', and 'Tenderness'. How has it been juggling all that work with a toddler and a new baby in the house?
The thing is with the jobs that I'm choosing at the moment, they don't come with the 26-, 28-, 30-week schedule of the films that I've done in the last few years. So it may seem like I'm doing a lot more work, but the last three films that you mentioned wouldn't even add up to the weeks on set for 'Cinderella Man', for example. Every decision that I make now goes through what's right for my wife and my kids. So, life is balanced out, but Daddy's still got to go out and earn the milk.

'A Good Year' is in cinemas from 27 October 2006