"Hello, Mike", says Frain somberly. "I didn't recognise you in costume." I don't know - does insulting someones vertically challenged friend constitute getting off on the wrong foot? If it does, Frain doesn't let on. OK, maybe he is a bit bemused, but he's not totally comfortable with the celebrity interview thing (in the foyer just now, he admitted to being "embarrassed" about being seen by his fellow cast members, including Oliver Ford Davies, "going on about myself again") - and to be fair, he's slipping into the role of a psychotic in half an hour, rehearsing Edmund's fight scene.

Frain is a very handsome man. I knew that because I'd seen him in the superb BBC1 adaptation of William Boyd's "Armadillo", and the films "Hilary and Jackie" (where he played Daniel Barenboim) and "Elizabeth" (as Alvaro) - although he also reminded me of a ruder and manlier Christopher Lillicrap (the Seventies kids presenter who I always predicted would go far with that name. Look, we all make mistakes). I'd also been told this by people who know him (one of whom said, "he's always got a serious girfriend, but everyone falls in love with him"), from other journalists who'd met him, and from people who couldn't quite place his name at first, but when I ran through an extensive list of everthing he'd done (mainly stuff you don't have to be middle class to have seen, but it helps), would say, "Oh, him. He's very good looking".

He can act too. Besides "Armadillo", he starred in the brilliant "MacBeth on the Estate" and "Vigo" - about the Twenties film director Jean Vigo, generally conceded to be Julien Temple's best film - and has had significant, stand-outish roles in virtually everything else, from his debut in "Shadowlands" though "Titus" to this year's Disney film of "The Count of Monte Cristo", out in April and starring Guy Pearce (Frain plays the villain Villefort) - all reasonably diverse roles, which he says was a deliberate move to avoid being pigeon-holed, although he does do a very good bad boy.

"That was quite unconscious", he says. "I wasn't like, 'Right, I'm going to play these dark twisted guys'. I've played other roles but they haven't necessarily been successful".

The deep voice helps, because without it he'd probably be playing those blokes in Jane Austin who always end up being everyone's best friend. What is it about deep voices? The woman serving behind the counter, who acted as though I'd insulted her mother when I smilingly ordered a cappucino, barely stopped short of slipping into a silky underthing when Frain ordered a "strong latte" without even looking at her. Which is all perfect for the role of Edmund, although Edmund uses his various charms to kill people and seize absolute power, and I'm assuming that's not on Frain's agenda - at least not this afternoon. I hope.

Frain doesn't like Edmund. He's interested in him - "Some things are appealing - the fact he's an outsider, his cynicism" - but Edmund's incapacity to love clearly disturbs him. In fact he mentions the importance of love quite a lot in the interview - which either means he's a proper person, or having a nervous break down, or in love (although the offical line is that he's single).

Frain, 33, is always being touted as The Next Big Thing, and invariably finds his way into every Brit Pack article. He was plucked from stage school after studing drama at UEA by none other than Sir Richard Attenborough for "Shadowlands" - yet it seems weird that with all his credentials, he isn't as well known as peers like Jude Law or Hugh Grant. He's like the permanently up-and-coming area that still doesn't have a Cafe Rouge. When someone's this good-looking and can hold an intellectual drama/Shakespeare play together, you've got to wonder.

When I ask him why he thinks this is, he visibly squirms - understandably. On one level, the reason is obvious. As he points out, eventually, you need the one American hit. His two Hollywood films - John Frankenheimer's "Reindeer Games" and "Where the Heart Is", co-starring Natalie Portman - sank. He's perfectly frank about it, if a little wistful. But the American flop happens to a lot of talented people, like Jeremy Northam.

The less obvious reason is that he doesn't want the fame bit that bad. "Most actors I would guess are playing the celebrity game to get access to work", he says equitably. "Certainly no one I know is into fame, because then it becomes a dangerous game, a Faustian pact. I mean even doing interviews, I never used to think about that when I used to imagine being an actor".

When he was younger - the eldest of eight - he was inspired by people like Daniel Day Lewis, and although he hasn't gone as far as Day Lewis on the self-flagellation school of method acting, he did virtually starve himself for "Vigo" ("I was a bit keen"). Now he's more into the finer things. "There are so many times you can have fantastic times but it doesn't necessarily all come together - and other times when you have a miserable time but the film's great. I prefer to have a good time if I can". Good man. Or is that thirtysomething man?

Plus acting, despite his gift, isn't necessarily his Be All. No one else in his family acts (his mother is a teacher, his father a stockbroker) although his siblings are "all creative". It's as though he fell into it because everyone else spotted his natural talent - he cites an inspirational English teacher at his secondary school in Newport, Essex (he was born in Leeds), and of course, Sir Dicky. Most of his future projects involve directing. "It's such a cliche - actors who want to direct", he admits. "When I was a kid I wanted to be Orson Welles. Now I realise he was a genius and I'm just a bit keen. I wanted to get to a stage where the acting was up and running and I could pay bills. But what I hadn't taken on board was that once I'd developed a reputation as an actor, then I'd have to require a new reputation as a director".

To cheer him up, I mention the resurrection of Ian McShane in "Sexy Beast", and his eyes light up - not because he has a secret passion for McShane, but because he loves talking about films, all films.

It seems fairly obvious to me that Frain will make it big, and soon. All the ingredients are there and he deserves it. But then again I don't want to make any more predictions. If you're out there Lillicrap, what can I say - I'm sorry.