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Anthony Minghella鈥檚 films may be dramas in which characters often struggle with intense emotions in the midst of flamboyant decor, but he draws the line at the room in the Dorchester, where this interview takes place. His first reaction to the overwhelming accumulation of chintz, silk, mahogany and red Chinese cabinets is: 鈥淥h, it鈥檚 a bit much for the morning.鈥�

Minghella is here to discuss his latest completed film, Breaking and Entering, which stars Jude Law as a landscape architect whose office in King鈥檚 Cross is repeatedly broken into (see the review overleaf). It might not win as many plaudits as The Talented Mr Ripley, Cold Mountain or The English Patient (the last won nine Oscars). On the other hand, it does have a guaranteed audience among the construction community. According to Roger Madelin, the chief executive of developer Argent, 鈥渢he whole industry is looking forward to it鈥�.

Madelin himself has a special interest, as Argent is leading the regeneration of King鈥檚 Cross, where most of the action is set, and it worked with landowner Excel to help set up Minghella鈥檚 shoot. 鈥淥f course we鈥檙e going to chuckle 鈥� not nastily 鈥� at the naivety of some of it,鈥� says Madelin. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 fantastic that he chose King鈥檚 Cross and tried to understand all the details behind regeneration.鈥�

Minghella has a personal interest in the story, too. Andrew Ogorzalek, the director of PCKO, designed him a studio in Gospel Oak, a dodgy area of north London. After 13 burglaries, all the entrances were boarded up apart from a slit in the door.

Madelin is aware that the intricacies of the construction process don鈥檛 necessarily make for mesmerising movies and adds that Minghella was justified in taking some 鈥渃inematographic licence鈥�. But the director, who will turn 53 in January, says he asked his architect friends for help in an effort to make the profession鈥檚 concerns and ideas plausible. 鈥淭he material was passed around a group of architects to ensure that, at the very least, my feeble attempt to personify them wouldn鈥檛 be too inaccurate,鈥� he says.

In his thoughtful, soft-spoken voice, Minghella draws a parallel between making films and creating buildings. Both activities, he says, originate as dreams.

鈥淔ilm-making begins entirely in the realms of the imagination 鈥� and then it becomes very prosaic because it has to fit into a budget and a schedule and the availability of actors and the permissions of locations and the cost of design.鈥� He thinks the 鈥渢yranny of codes, rules and regulations鈥� affects architects鈥� vision in a similar way.

Minghella鈥檚 plan for the film was to show the 鈥渃onvulsion of activity鈥� that is going on around King鈥檚 Cross, and the contrast created by gentrification amid the remnants of rundown estates. Born in the Isle of Wight and now a proud Londoner, Minghella has lovingly photographed the city, shot with the same care as Jude Law and Juliette Binoche.

One of the challenges of shooting in King鈥檚 Cross was that the area was changing so quickly that he couldn鈥檛 find the exact locations he had in mind. 鈥淲hen I was writing, I had a memory of the recent King鈥檚 Cross that had already been completely eradicated,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a very evanescent understanding that we have of landscape because in cities it鈥檚 constantly in flux.鈥�

Credit: Julian Anderson

So there is no point looking for the office of Green Effect (Law鈥檚 practice) around King鈥檚 Cross: the production team couldn鈥檛 find enough mean streets to set it in. There are still plenty in the East End, though, and an abandoned iron foundry in Bow was rebuilt to become Law鈥檚 state-of-the-art office.

Film-making, like architecture, begins entirely in the realms of the imagination 鈥� and then it becomes very prosaic

The film explores regeneration through characters who fall into two camps: those who think offices and galleries can truly salvage an area and those who see their role as purely cosmetic. As Ray Winstone鈥檚 character puts it, it鈥檚 not surprising that tensions occur when high culture and finance set up home in a crack village.

A well-known New Labour supporter, Minghella breaks into a laugh when asked which side of that debate he鈥檚 on. 鈥淭he luxury of being a film-maker and a writer is that I agree with everything that everybody says. Obviously, because I wrote it,鈥� he quips.

Regaining his composure, he muses about the poor transport system between east and west London, the former state of decay at King鈥檚 Cross and the notion of progress.

鈥淚n the process [of regeneration] a particular character and a particular population will necessarily be 鈥� altered. There is a cost to that. It鈥檚 not only nostalgia, although it鈥檚 partly nostalgia.鈥�

But it鈥檚 towards the future that Minghella is now looking. As a member of the Culture and Creativity Advisory Forum for the 2012 Olympics, and chairman of the British Film Institute since 2002, he says he鈥檇 love to see a film centre built in London. Of course, this would have to be an iconic building.

鈥淚t鈥檚 perhaps the most obvious reference but I鈥檇 like to see a building of the characteristics and qualities of Frank Gehry鈥檚 Guggenheim or the Disney Concert Hall, some visionary building that changes the way people look at a landscape.鈥�

Incidentally, Sketches of Frank Gehry, a documentary on the architect directed by Sydney Pollack and produced by his and Minghella鈥檚 production company Mirage, will be released in the UK next spring.

Minghella鈥檚 next project is slated to be an adaptation of Liz Jensen鈥檚 novel The Ninth Life of Louis Drax. But he doesn鈥檛 know whether he鈥檒l direct more films that tackle architecture.

At the moment, he relishes what he describes as 鈥渁n enormously privileged existence to be able to do mistakes on films鈥� 鈥� as opposed to not being able to make films at all. Before directing movies, Minghella worked as a script editor for Eastenders and Grange Hill and a writer for Inspector Morse in the 1980s. 鈥淭he most frustrated people in the world are architects that can鈥檛 get their buildings made or directors that can鈥檛 get their films made,鈥� he says.

Some food for thought as the director鈥檚 healthy breakfast of red berries, banana and plain yoghurt is delivered. It seems he doesn鈥檛 like the Dorchester鈥檚 fancy pastries either.