Yet among the thriller elements, theres a human drama at work here, too.

A fantastic film congratulations, first of all.

I was just reading about your experiences of shooting at sea.

Actually was it a nightmare?

It was bloody hard work.

Youre on the ocean, and you have all sorts of problems.

Resetting any kind of sea-borne ship or boat just takes forever.

Thats the first problem: logistics.

The second problem is resupplying everything.

A lens shifting it from A to B takes forever.

So your unit is very isolated and difficult to supply.

And its difficult to manipulate the physical landscape in front of you.

The third thing is, youre at the mercy of the weather.

The sea how high the sea is, how choppy it is.

So those are all prodigious problems, but that said, you do get fantastic opportunities as well.

If you might plan properly, you get a real sense of all of you pulling together.

We became a real crew thats really true.

I dont regret it for a moment.

It feels as though you had a very nimble crew, just in the way the camera moves around.

Well, we didnt have a lot of money.

Thats the honest truth of it.

We didnt have a lot of money we were a modestly budgeted film.

I think that does reflect itself.

We didnt have much time, either.

I dont storyboard like some.

I mean, all directors are different.

I plan meticulously really meticulously.

Sometimes Ill board and I did board considerable sections of this but its a multi-faceted preparation, really.

And ultimately, to meticulously plan the sequence as you want to assemble it, you know?

Then, the film we shoot is going to resemble the film we cut, which is important.

It could have been a hero-versus-villains punch in film.

It could have beenUnder Siege,you know?

But they didnt want that.

The studio didnt want that.

They were very aware of the dangers of that upfront.

That was a big part of why I wanted to do it.

Youve got to take a look at whether were all going to be making the same thing here.

That was what was great about this.

And Im not just saying this they were a really lovely studio.

There are really nice people at the top there.

Its a really strong group of executives, with a lot of trust between them.

They didnt want theUnder Siegeversion they wanted the layered, more complex version.

Which is riskier and more difficult to get.

That doesnt mean to say you get there, but it means youre all facing down this road.

Well, this interesting road, because theres a third version of this film.

I mean, youve got theUnder Siege-jot down rah-rah film, which I wouldnt have wanted to make.

But equally disappointing would have been the one full of liberal posturing, do you know what I mean?

A film that makes excuses.

Your film doesnt tell you what to think, does it?

Thats what I like about the film.

I had one guy the other day saying that its just a propaganda for the US navy.

Then Ive had others saying youre way too sympathetic to the Somalis.

Its something where you go, no, no, were neither were right down the middle of this.

Its layered and complex, I think.

So that naturally gives you a way of heightening the tension.

And also, what I loved about it from day one is that its a crime story.

Its not a story about terrorism.

Its not a post-9/11 story.

Even the twoBournemovies, theyre both popcorn movies, but thats what they are.

What I loved about this was that its a crime story.

I loved that in this.

Its basically about four guys who steal a ship.

But its a contemporary crime story out in the ocean.

Today its the sea routes, that basically connect the world weve got, really.

Everything in this room and your room and my room comes by container ship.

It all comes by container ship.

Its the food we eat, the stuff we import assembled in places where labour is cheap.

This new global economy, its all based on the sea routes.

And so when these four kids come out and attack the ship, thats whats in play.

And of course, theyre locked out of the global economy, so the crime illuminates that landscape.

I love that about the story, because it gives the two captains their clarity.

Paul Greengrass, thank you very much.

Captain Phillipsis out in UK cinemas on the 18th October.