Laurence Fishburne is currently directing an adaptation of Paulo Coelho's best-selling novel The Alchemist, although he continues to work on the other side of the camera as well. His biggest box-office success came playing Morpheus in The Matrix movies, but his credits are varied. Back when he was simply know as Larry, he featured in The Color Purple, The Cotton Club, and Boyz N The Hood. He's subsequently starred in What's Love Got To Do With It, Event Horizon, and Biker Boyz. In Clint Eastwood's latest, the crime drama Mystic River, he plays a Boston cop investigating the brutal murder of a young girl.

Your character Whitey is an onlooker in a story that mainly unfolds between three other characters. How did you see yourself fitting in with those dynamics?

The way I would describe these characters is: Sean Penn is married to Laura Linney; Tim Robbins is married to Marcia Gay Harden; and I'm married to Kevin Bacon. The partnerships that cops have are really like marriages. He's privy to the comings and goings of the people that are in this community, but he's just not as deeply affected because it's his work. His objectiveness comes from the fact that it's his job to investigate a murder. He's not personally involved in it.

Did you try to preserve a sense of that on the set?

No, not necessarily. I mean, we were all together, working together, eating together and playing together. Whitey, although he is removed from the familial situation, is not a complete foreigner to the community as he is partners with Kevin Bacon.

Filming on location in Boston, did you have a strong sense of that community?

Yeah. In Dennis Lehane's book, and Brian's [Helgeland, screenwriter] translation of it, Boston is on the page. It was really authentic even on the page, but to actually be there added a texture that you can't create.

And what kind of atmosphere did Clint Eastwood create for you on set? It's often be said that he's very laidback...

It's incredibly civilised working for Mr Eastwood, because often times in movies you wind up working 18 or 21 hours, or whatever it is. We never had any days like that. We'd start a decent hour and finish at a decent hour. And it's a familial situation with people that have been working with him for years, and so they have a kind of shorthand. They welcomed us all into their family, and made us all feel very comfortable.

You're also a jobbing director, so was there anything that particularly inspired you about the way he works?

The most inspiring thing about watching Clint work was his ability to be very prepared. He knew exactly what he wanted, but he could also make room for happy accidents and invention. I would watch him composing [the music for the film], and I thought it was beautiful because he could do it in an improvisational way - on the spot. So he has this very disciplined work ethic, but there's also an inventiveness. He's like Bill Evans [jazz pianist], and as a director as well - he's got classical feeling, a great sense of swing and real poetry. A joy.