It’s almost 20 years now since Robin Wright Penn, onetime model and soap opera star, made Hollywood sit up and take notice with her scene-stealing performance in The Princess Bride. Since that time she's alternated between high-profile studio fare, including Forrest Gump, Unbreakable and Message in a Bottle, and memorable independent films such as White Oleander, Moll Flanders, The Pledge and The Crossing Guard (the last two directed by husband Sean Penn).

The actress's latest film finds her starring alongside Jude Law and Juliette Binoche in Anthony Minghella's Breaking and Entering, an intense contemporary drama set against the vivid backdrop of London's rapidly changing skyline and ever more culturally diverse population.

Robin plays depressive Swedish American Liv, whose single-minded devotion to her autistic daughter is putting an increasing strain on her relationship with longtime boyfriend Will (Law).

“I feel like I'm only just starting,” says Robin, who recently turned 40, laughing off a rogue report that she's now semi-retired. “I think the parts get more interesting at this age and I've lived more and I can bring extra dimensions to the roles I play.”

Minghella changed the character of Liv from Swedish to Swedish American to accommodate you for the role. Flattering, isn't it?

Yes, except he probably made the change because I couldn't do the accent (laughs). I usually find accents a release, but this one was really tricky. I felt as if it hindered me, though looking back maybe it helped my performance.

 Is this a different kind of role for you?
 I've played a lot of depressives (laughs). I'm actually longing to do a comedy right now, but this was such a great role. I loved that there were so many different layers to play.
You start with this woman who is so committed to her child, that's the key component you get, and you go from there and there's all this interesting stuff about relationships, about broken trust, about people saying one thing and doing another.

So you didn't need any convincing to take the part?
I said yes before I even read the script. Just because it was Anthony Minghella. You know, I don't want to get up and go to work if I'm not going to work. I want something and someone that challenges me and Anthony was more than I expected.
We literally had hours and hours of discussion and dissection between Anthony, myself and Jude before we started filming, but I also loved the way Anthony would change things as we went along.
Even while you were doing scenes and the camera was rolling, suddenly Anthony would be at the side of the camera and start asking you questions and you'd have to respond in character. It's fun to be surprised like that.
Some directors will just say, “Okay I want you to have more energy and be more likable”. I hate that.

Is there one central theme in the film?
I think at one level it's obvious: the film's about multiculturalism, about theft, about a rapidly changing London and about the territories people create and defend.
But at a deeper level it's about how all that applies to people's emotional lives and to the connections they make with other people. The story begins with a boy stealing a computer and ends up being about a different sort of theft, about crimes of the heart.

You've played a lot of dark characters. Do you take these tortured women home with you?
You do get typecast. I did The Princess Bride and I was only offered princesses for ten years and then you play one psychotic, depressed woman and that's what you get after that (laughs).
As for taking the roles home, I think you take the isolation home with you. You've been on set all day in this other world, so it can be isolating to go home and have the kids screaming, “What's for dinner?” “Help me with my homework!” because you're sort of in a bubble, in a shell.
But having kids is good because it does force you out of yourself. The kids want to go to the park. You have to get on with it.

And what happens when two actors live together? What if you're both so preoccupied with your latest roles? How do you get out of that?
Very carefully (laughs)!
DHNS