The film that changed my life: Paul Bettany

This film is brilliant on many counts: it manages to treat the themes of coerced confession and the IRA with broad strokes and without compromising their complexity; it has a beautiful soundtrack; the cinematography is gorgeous; Saffron Burrows is lovely in it; the writing and direction are flawless. But it's hard to get away from Daniel Day-Lewis's performance. I was at drama school when the film came out in the early 90s, and towering central performances only seemed to happen in American films: the De Niros, the Pacinos. Suddenly out came In the Name of the Father , and I was so entirely lost as I watched Day-Lewis [below] in the role of Gerry Conlon [wrongly imprisoned member of the Guildford Four] that I didn't doubt for one moment that this was his life. Of living actors, I feel it's only him and Meryl Streep who have that quality; like they've made some Faustian pact with the devil and truly become the person they're playing. It bowls me over. Overall, Day-Lewis has made pretty flawless career choices, and as a student this film taught me a valuable lesson not to rush in to work. It's a lesson I've absolutely managed to ignore until recently... Having started to choose my roles more carefully, this film has been in my head a lot, reminding me of my first impulses to become an actor, stirring up all those old feelings. Broken Lines starring Paul Bettany is out on DVD on 5 December