Actress Jennifer Aniston and Clive Owen attend the premiere of "Derailed" in New York City. Evan Agostini/Getty Images

Last week, SI writer Richard Deitsch interviewed Clive Owen for the magazine's Q&A. The 41-year-old British actor (Croupier) and avid Liverpool supporter currently stars in Derailed. Here are additional excerpts from their conversation:

SI: What will England do at the World Cup in 2006?

Owen: We'll win it.

SI: How are the Brits different than Americans when it comes to sports?

Owen: I don't think there is much difference. I was in New York this summer and filmed a movie (The Inside Man) with Spike Lee and he's a nut about every sport. [He even roots for] the Arsenal football club. The popular sports in the States are different from the ones here, but I think being a fan is the same.

SI: What role does sports play in your life?

Owen: I am a big soccer fan, and a very big Liverpool fan. I go to the games whenever I can, which is often limited to when they come to London. But I do occasionally go to up to Anfield. And I'm into horse racing as well.

SI: Describe your emotion as Liverpool came back down three goals in the Champions League Final earlier this year?

Owen: Even people who are not Liverpool fans say it was the most incredible comeback. There was one point when the commentator on the game said: MILAN ARE TEACHING LIVERPOOL A FOOTBALL LESSON. It felt humiliating. Then it was just an incredible. But even after we equalized, I still was convinced we had gone so far and then would mess up on the penalties. It was a phenomenal, a phenomenal football match.

SI: You can be one athlete for a day. Who are you and what are you doing?

Owen: Possibly Muhammad Ali. And I'm possibility not in the ring.

SI: Choose one: An Oscar, a Golden Globe, or scoring a goal for England in a World Cup?

Owen: I'd take an Oscar.

SI: Will you demand you kids support Liverpool?

Owen: Well, my 6-year-old daughter (Eve) has goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek's kit (uniform) and my other daughter (Hannah) has the whole outfit.

SI: What was it like watching the club as a kid when they were rolling up victories like the Chicago Bulls did in the 1990s?

Owen: To be honest with you, that's why I supported them. I'm from a place called Coventry. When I was a little kid, Liverpool was the team. The only people who I ever got an autograph from was from the Liverpool Football Club. No actors or anybody else. They were the only guys. I didn't get to many games because I was a working class kid from Coventry. But I watched every time they were on the TV which was a lot in those days because they were winning everything. I would get dressed up in the kit and go down and watch them on TV.

SI: Explain your joy when the club re-signed Steven Gerrard?

Owen: Unbelievable happy. It was announced in the press here that he was going to go to Chelsea. It was an absolutely done deal. He was leaving, and then within 24 hours they went back on it and said he was staying. He is in my book one of the greatest players in the world. So to be able to keep one of the greatest players in the world was very important. I think he is a phenomenal player.

SI: You live in London. Will Chelsea ever lose again? [They have since lost, 1-0, to Manchester United]

Owen: They've had a pretty amazing run. But we (Liverpool) have them on Dec. 6 in the Champions League. I think we might give them a game again. We have Real Bettis at home at Anfield and then we go to Chelsea. I am hopefully going. I'm shooting at the moment but I'm pretty sure I'll be in time to get the game.

SI: Any interest in playing a real-life person from sport or a film where sports is a central theme?

Owen: I certainly would be interested, though there is nothing in the pipeline. I have occasionally been approached about doing the odd sport or sports films.

SI: What is the best event you have attended because of your celebrity?

Owen: I think it was one of the most brilliant perks of this job was going to Anfeld and going to Chairman's Lounge and meeting the back people at Anfield. Having been a kid that watched them from afar, and really couldn't afford to go out to Liverpool to see the games but was a huge fan, to suddenly use the fact that I've been in a few movies and on TV, well, to go out to Anfield and get plugged in a little bit was a huge deal for me.

SI:What's the one athletic feat you wish you could do?

Owen: I can't think of what that would be. It would have it to be a brilliant footballer. Every kid in this country grows up wanting to be a footballer at some point.

SI: What do you consider your single greatest athletic achievement?

Owen: I haven't gotten one. Perhaps pool could be one of my achievements (laughs).

SI: Do you follow any American teams?

Owen: No, not really.

SI:You have a reputation for betting the ponies. What wager has satisfied you the most?

Owen: I swear this is true: I backed Liverpool at 80 to 1 to win the Champions League. Eight-zero to one! [Early in the tournament] they looked like they were on their way out, so the price was pushed way out.

SI:You've been to the Breeders Cup at Gulfstream and nearly made it to Belmont this year. What happened?

Owen: The Breeders' Cup is my favorite meeting [day of racing], and it was cruel because this year it was in New York and I had a lot of friends who were going. I had to go to a junket in New York for Derailed, so instead of being at the Breeders' Cup, I'm 40 minutes away in a hotel. If I had thought quickly enough, I would have gotten [executive producer] Harvey Weinstein to hold the junket at the track.

SI: Derailed is a psychological thriller as opposed to a film like King Arthur where you're horseback in plenty of scenes. Did you have to do any kind of physical training for this?

Owen: Not really that much, to tell you the truth. The only physical aspect for me was that I take some serious beatings in this film. We did a lot of talking [during filming] to make sure that it looked as real and as nasty and convincing as possible because it is all about somebody being in a nightmare and if you feel those beatings, it puts you in them.

SI: People have often compared working on stage to boxing. Do you see parallels?

Owen: I have heard people say that it is like boxing. The adrenaline you get, especially on a first night going on stage, is so weird. I know people who have done both - boxed and act -- and they have said the first night what happens to your body, the adrenaline that goes through you, the fear that goes through, is very similar.

SI: Why do you think Americans have not fully embraced soccer?

Owen: I really don't understand. I don't what it is. I don't know if it is because in a lot of American sports that you are used to have a lot of goals, and the idea of a 1-nil match doesn't seem that appealing.

SI: The best sports film you have seen?

Owen: Raging Bull.

SI: Who is the more popular Owen in England these days: Clive or Michael?

Owen: Michael, for sure.