To read part one of our Daniel Mays Interview, click the link below. Can you say a little more about Eran Creevy's directorial style?
DM: I think the great quality that Eran has – I mean this is his first feature, you know. And I loved working for him and he has that great ingredient that good directors should have, that, you know, that you want to work for them. And I was really aware that this was his baby, this was his first film and he'd written the script and this had been like three or four years in the making. So I think once you agree to make something, you've got to give everything to your director and try and do the best job you possibly can.

But the great thing about his qualities as a director is he's got such an insatiable appetite for it and a bounding sort of energy. You know, he energises you on set. I know the subject matter of the film is quite dark and, you know, not depressing, but – I mean, the subject matter could be seen as depressing – but we had great banter on set and that was great, you had a bit of a spring in your step every time you went to work every day.

So how did Eran, as a first time director, compare with other directors you've worked with?
DM: Well, of course, he hasn't got that luxury of having a wealth of experience to draw on. I mean I did feel, to a certain extent, I mean, I was the most experienced sort of guy in the room, you know. He had no real experience of working with actors and I've been fortunate enough to go through two films with Mike Leigh and work with Joe Wright and they're real sort of actor's directors, particularly Mike, you know, you kind of spend six months on your character.

So I felt that I had a lot of experience to bring to the table and I worked a lot with him, building the scenes into beats. I've done a lot of theatre as well and that background in theatre helped with really breaking down the characters and breaking down the scenes and working on the relationships. But it's all there, I mean, that was part of the appeal of doing the job in the first place, was the fact that the script was sensational and the quality in the script is in the writing, but it's the stuff that happens underneath it, it's the subtext, it's the stuff that happens in between the silences.

Do you have a favourite scene in the film?
DM: I love so many parts of the film but I think what I really enjoyed when I first sat down and watched it – because I didn't go to the cutting room, I sat down and watched it when it was all completed – was those early scenes where it's awkward, they haven't seen each other in four years, Shifty could easily slam the door in Chris's face and tell him to fuck off or whatever and as an audience, you don't know what's going on. And then you find out why their relationship is fractured in the first place.

So there's this great thing of like the elephant in the room that no one's talking about and it's that thing that gives it all those different layers that you won't normally get in some – you know, there are so many British films in this genre that are just people shooting guns at each other and it all ends in someone dying and whatever. I've mentioned Mike Leigh, but for me it had a lot of sensitivity, like he has in his films, or a Ken Loach or a Shane Meadows. You know, it was the stuff going on in between the lines that as an actor I really connected to and sort of helped Eran through it. But, I mean, you know, he's an instinctively great director, I think.

Was anything cut out that you hated to lose?
DM: No. Everything that was shot was put in the film – I can't think of anything that was cut. Oh, no, the only thing that we dropped, there's a bit where the music's playing too loud and Shifty breaks in and Chris remains outside on the balcony and there was just going to be a moment where – and actually, when I say it now, it sounds like something out of Little Britain – but he was going to see a really young single mum, pushing a pram. But in actual fact, it does sound a bit contrived that, now, you know, I don't think you miss it. But that's testament to [producer] Ben Pugh, his professionalism in running the whole show was great.

Did the microbudget cause any concerns at all?
DM: I must admit I was quite apprehensive. I was slightly worried when I rocked up on day one because everything was stripped to its bare bones. And in actual fact, the first scene was the scene where I throw his mobile into that lake and I remember looking on the wall and there was this sign saying 'No Swimming, Do Not Enter, Toxic Sewage' or something like that and I threw this thing in and because we had no money, we only had like two phones. And so Eric, the production designer went 'No worries' and he took his shoes and socks off and his jeans and rolled them up and went wading through all this shit and I was like, 'Is this what it's going to be like?' I was kind of like 'Oh shit,' you know? But he did a great job. Oh, and in another scene I really loved, the scene with the cats, we wanted to use real cats but the budget didn't stretch to real cats so they were all stuffed.

What's your next project?
DM: I've wrapped on the Tintin film with Steven Spielberg, but it's so top secret that I can't say anything about that - I can't even tell you who I'm playing. But that's not out till 2011 or so. In the meantime, I'm in an episode of Jimmy McGovern's The Street, which is going to be on in October, I'm a big fan of that show, great writing again. And Hippie Hippie Shake, for Working Title, that's going to be released, and I'm also doing a tiny part in the next Nanny McPhee film, which again is something really different.

But what I'm most excited about, I'm doing a film called Huge, which is written by the comedian Ben Miller (of Armstrong & Miller fame) and he's going to direct, it's his first feature – it's all about two aspiring stand-up comedians, a double act and I'm acting with a tremendous actor called Johnny Harris, who was the pimp in London to Brighton. He's a great actor, so it's all about that, trying to make it on the circuit.