That sauna fight scene is painful to watch. Did you worry it might be too visceral?

No. And frankly, the body-count for A History Of Violence and this film together is far less than, say, in The Departed or the Bourne movies. People like to say, "Cronenberg's movies are brutal." But the reason people say that is because those scenes stick with them because they're realistic and you see the consequences. Someone won't get hit 50 times in the face and still be standing.

How worried were you about being naked to shoot that scene, and then seeing it up on the big screen?

Well, it's shot pretty straightforward and you see what you see. We talked about it; it was a brief conversation. He said, "Visually, what do you think about this scene?" I said, "I think it should be as realistic as the rest of the movie." And then we just got down to it. But I knew it would be awkward and vulnerable.

Next year's the US presidential election. Who are you rooting for?

I'm waiting to hear someone sound like they're really sincere and like they're going to do something significant. Because it's gonna take someone who has some guts to put things back right, not only for the people of the United States but so that the United States can be seen not as an out of control, spoiled-brat bully nation but as a responsible member of the family of nations. I haven't seen that yet.

What's up next?

I'm doing a movie starting at the end of the month [the Ed Harris-directed western Appaloosa] and I'm probably going to do another one early next year. And I have a couple of exhibitions for next year, so I'm pretty busy. In fact, I've got too much work to do right now. I could do with a little less, frankly.