It's not like a girl from the suburbs of Toronto is born to direct a South African bank robber movie! 
Based on her previous features - 1996 kids romp Harriet The Spy and 1999 Sandra Bullock rom-com Forces Of Nature - few would have earmarked Bronwen Hughes as a helmer of edgy, fact-based thrillers. But that's what the Canadian director has produced with Stander, inspired by the true story of a South African policeman who turned to robbing banks at the height of the Apartheid era. Steeped in 70s style and boasting a charismatic performance from Thomas Jane, it's a "gripping, true-life crime caper" that bodes well for this filmmaker's future.
Stander is very different from your previous films. What made you think you were the right person for the job?
Well, there's no logic to it. It's not like a girl from the suburbs of Toronto is born to direct a South African bank robber movie! The thing is, I never wanted to be in a niche as a director of romantic comedies or kids movies. So when I came off my previous film I said no to everything that resembled what I'd done before. And I waited a long time to find a story that was so compelling and so mind-blowing that it had to be out in the world.
Stander was South African but he's played by an American. Was this your decision or one forced upon you by the money men?
It was pure practicality. Of course we looked in South Africa for the right guy to play Andre Stander, but the financers wouldn't approve any of the actors from there. But my main concern was that we would have great actors in the lead roles. And Thomas is the ultimate chameleon: he throws himself into his roles to the point people don't even recognise him from one movie to the next. That was the kind of performer I needed for this film.
Did you ever have any concerns that you might be glamourising a criminal?
Well, Stander gets his comeuppance, so I feel morally fine about that - and he doesn't get the girl! I think there was a way to make this film infinitely more romantic than I made it. Yet you could argue that the very act of making a movie about someone is to romanticise them. That's inevitable if you are going to commit them to celluloid.
What other projects do you have in the pipeline?
I have a film called The Journey Is The Destination, which is based on the life of Dan Eldon: he was the youngest photojournalist to work for Reuters. Orlando Bloom wants to play Eldon. And then there's this surfing film about the life of Lisa Andersen, who is the four times women's world champion and who basically put girl surfing on the map. It's kind of like a Rocky story...
Stander is released in UK cinemas on Friday 27th May 2005.
