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It would be inaccurate to call Kevin Spacey a Hollywood exile. The big-budget films (Superman Returns, A Bug's Life, Se7en), the boutique studio hits (the recent 21, The Usual Suspects, American Beauty), his own production company, plus two Academy Awards for acting, sure make him look like a traditional movie star. And yet ... something of the outsider artist lingers over his career, perhaps by intention.

Spacey's decision, in 2003, to accept the position of artistic director at London's then-ailing Old Vic (from which he has mounted several successful productions) was translated by some wags as a retreat from movies, after his films K-PAX, Pay It Forward and The Shipping News failed to find large audiences. Tiresome questions about Spacey's sexuality, an issue only in Hollywood (which is about as liberal in such matters as Iran), have dogged him for years - leading to further speculation that the former Next Big Leading Man is using London as a kind of hideout.

My guess is that Spacey took a long, hard look at the quality of American films since the first indie boom of the 1990s and, like many good actors of his generation, decided to shift his focus from overblown films with dicey return potential (Speed Racer, anyone?) to smaller, smarter movies and plays. Call it the John Malkovich or Glenn Close move.

But all is not lost. Spacey's latest project, the HBO film Recount (playing in Canada on Movie Central and The Movie Network), is a lively, often very funny docudrama that pieces together the bizarre legal and political manoeuvres surrounding the 2000 Gore-Bush Florida recount. Spacey plays Al Gore's doomed-to-fail head strategist with great gusto and just the right amount of droopy-eyed pathos. Spacey would make a very convincing president himself - in a movie.

How much did you know about the Gore-Bush recount before you started filming?

You know, that was one of the most startling things to me, because I've been involved in politics since I was stuffing envelopes for Jimmy Carter in high school. And I certainly felt I was keyed in. I know people in Democratic politics, I hosted the Tennessee ball for Al Gore in his second inaugural ... and I was stunned at how little I knew. I certainly knew about it over all, and knew how it ends, but the vast amount of detail - the human error, the people who were completely unqualified for their jobs ... I guess at the end of the day, when you whittle it down, you see it was the human element and a system that is unequipped to handle margins of victory so small. Really, the film ends up playing more like a thriller.

The situation is so strange, were you worried it would appear unbelievable to the audience?

I, no ... once I read the screenplay I went and read all the books. When I really got into seeing what happened, I started to see that it wasn't just one thing that went wrong - it was a confluence of many things. The details will be helpful to the audience, and perhaps shocking and surprising, and to a certain degree even funny. Some of it is so absurd, you can't believe that it's true. You get the sense in the film that it was not so much about Al Gore, but about the U.S. electoral process. Should every vote count and should every vote be counted?

Could it happen again?

Yes!

Conservatives in the U.S. will probably write this film off as an example of typical Hollywood liberal bias.

Look, you can never predict what any one person may say. So far, the advance reviews, even on very Republican blogs, have said we got the story right. They've said it is balanced. All we've tried to do is present the facts. This is what happened, this is how people behaved.

Did you expect 21, a film about mathematics, to be such a big hit?

Ha! Well, in a way, math is only the basis for telling a story about underdogs. But the truth is, no matter if you're a gambler or not, the idea of going to Vegas and breaking the bank is a very thrilling idea!

I admire anyone, like yourself, who will work in theatre in London. The British media are the most evil in the world.

I have to disagree with you entirely! One has to put it in context. We were given a rough ride at first starting The Old Vic Theatre Company, but the truth is, I expected it. We came under criticism because I produced work that some people didn't feel belonged on the Old Vic stage. But I was facing a practical problem: If I'm playing under 75 per cent in a 1,000-seat theatre that is not subsidized, I'll be dead in the water. I had to try to do work that would reach out to a broader, younger audience. And now, we've just passed the one-million-patron mark.

Are you playing insane genius Joe Meek in the upcoming Telstar, and will you be playing insane genius Lex Luthor in another Superman movie?

I am not playing Joe Meek. I'm in it, but I'm not playing Joe Meek. And, look, I had a great time with Superman - but I probably know as much as you do about it. It's in development, and I am contractually meant to do a second one.

The weirdest thing I've read about you is that you're a pro wrestling fan.

Not true!

Oh, that saddens me.

Ha! Sorry to disappoint you!