A fan of Sin City? So is Clive Owen.

As part of the festival's Filmmaker Talk series, Owen spoke last night about how blown away he was by the special effects and the performances when he finally saw Sin City on the big screen instead of the green screen. When one audience member described it as an action film, Owen responded by saying he didn't see himself as an action guy -- with the exception of Shoot 'Em Up -- and added that he thought Sin City was more of a verbal film. "He's a brilliant writer of dialogue, Frank Miller," he said. "It's easy to not appreciate it when it's in graphic novel form, but the guy writes amazing noir dialogue."

Good writing is paramount for the film star, in town to shoot writer-director Tony Gilroy's new thriller, Duplicity, with Julia Roberts. "I loved the script," Owen said about the film. "The minute, literally, I finished the last page, I called my agent." Owen signed on to Duplicity before even seeing Gilroy's Michael Clayton.

Owen also heaped praise on others he had worked with, such as Robert Altman: "He's one of the most incisive film brains I've ever come across." Regarding the rehearsal process for Gosford Park, Owen recalled the formidable director warning his actors, "Don't come up to me and talk to me about your character. You should know why you've been cast."

With Children of Men, Owen said he loved the script, but it was the first time he took a film without having a complete grip on the character. His decision was made when director Alfonso Cuarón gave him a copy of The Battle of Algiers, to illustrate what he was trying to accomplish. Owen said, "I watched about 30 minutes of that film, called him up and said, 'I'm doing your film.'"

And although the star spent the evening complimenting others, at its close, he received a compliment of his own. When he noted that Spike Lee's original script for Inside Man had his character wearing a mask all the time, an enthusiastic audience member couldn't help but chime in, "Good thing he took the mask off. You're beautiful."

The Filmmaker Talk was moderated by Mary Harron (American Psycho,The Notorious Betty Page) and was the first of many presented by Apple and indieWIRE in conjunction with the Tribeca Film Festival.

(Photo: Marcel Thomas/Film Magic)