Writer-director Rowan Joffe must love to challenge himself. With The American and his feature film debut, an adaptation of Brighton Rock, Joffe tackles the trickiest of characters: internal, cold ones. Like Jack (a.k.a. Mr. Butterfly), Pinkie is a lead that is always at a distance. He will never let anyone in. Everything remains internal. However, Pinkie is not a sucker for the ladies. Pinkie is a character that is not sympathetic, or likable, and is most likely insane. The gangster is a walking horror film; unpredictable, and will do anything he deems necessary out of fear. He’s insecure, which makes him a serious threat. This idea is, once again, expressed internally. Jack and Pinkie present their own challenges, both to the man behind the typewriter and the audience. Here’s what Rowan Joffe had to say about his enigmatic leads, writing a character-driven film versus a plot-driven film, and correcting Roger Ebert:

As you’ve come to expect, our radar for films has a rather far and wide reach, so it’s hard to say that a film ever really comes out of nowhere. So while Franklyn didn’t come out of nowhere, it is certainly a nice surprise.

How do we fix a film that is too French? We can start with less turtlenecks…and 50 Cent.

We have heard very little about this project since last fall, yet this past week has seen an explosion of news — some rumors and some truths — that have begun to bring the other denizens of Nottingham into focus.