Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast / Jean-Claude Lother / AMC
Ever since he burst onto the international scene with 1998’s Croupier, Clive Owen has proven himself to be the embodiment of suave, confident, laid-back cool. He once again exudes those qualities to compelling ends in Monsieur Spade, a six-episode affair from The Queen’s Gambit mastermind Scott Frank and Oz creator Tom Fontana in which he stars as an older version of Dashiell Hammett’s legendary private investigator Sam Spade.
Donning the character’s trademark hat and coat, a cigarette casually perched between his lips—this despite a recent medical diagnosis that suggests Spade do otherwise—the 59-year-old actor slips comfortably into the role made iconic by Humphrey Bogart in 1941’s The Maltese Falcon. Navigating a mystery involving a missing child, a collection of murdered nuns, and all sorts of shady characters in the idyllic French countryside town of Bozouls, Owen’s sleuth is the poised if weary centerpiece of AMC+’s limited series, and another in a long line of parts that take great advantage of the headliner’s unruffled charisma.
As Croupier did 25 years earlier, Monsieur Spade is a crime saga that suggests Owen would have made a perfect 007—a casting idea that’s long been a favorite of Bond aficionados. While that opportunity has now seemingly passed the English actor by, Frank and Fontana’s small-screen effort gives him an ideal chance to show off his magnetic charm, and coming on the heels of his wildly different turn as a tech billionaire in FX’s whodunit Murder at the End of the World, it demonstrates that television suits him like a glove. Moreover, it’s the vehicle for another standout performance in a career full of them, be it his work in 2004’s Closer (for which he received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination), 2007’s Children of Men, or 2014-2015’s The Knick, which remains one of the past decade’s finest TV series. Ahead of Monsieur Spade’s Jan. 14 premiere, we chatted with Owen about following in Bogie’s footsteps, showing some on-screen skin, and his disinterest in doing the same thing twice.