When his dad finally died, he was bereft, but left with a horrible numbness. "People talk of the curse of the actor ... ." He stops and starts again. "Acting is like therapy, expressing the most extreme emotions and passions that a human being's capable of. Then inevitably tragedy hits your own life and all your family and friends gather round quite sincerely and openly show their pain, share their grief and comfort each other.
"But you immediately click into acting mode, and you know that you're fucking acting." He sounds distraught as he tries to explain the emotional vacuum. "You just can't help going into it, and it's dishonest. It is really fucking dishonest. You're starting to act, not expressing yourself properly. So you close down, and then you wind up on the outside. So fucking lonely. People cry, and you start doing that and you know it's a technique, this is bullshit. It really struck home."
Has he been able to get beyond this yet? "No, not yet. The point is you're stuck with it. I've still got it. It's still there. It's like a big fucking knot in there. I've got no way of expressing it."
Big bollocksy Bob Hoskins now seems so small and vulnerable - and all the more likable for it. He once said acting had saved his life. I ask him what he meant. "Well, it's given me everything I've ever wanted. It's given me a job that gives me a buzz, it's paid me a fortune, I live the life of a rich man, it's given me a chance to educate my kids, given them the education I never had." What does he think would have happened to him if he'd not become an actor? "Probably rob banks or something." He pauses. "I'd probably be dead."
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