Mendes on his evolutionary 'Revolutionary Road'

@SL_body_copy_ragged:On his first try, Sam Mendes won a Best Director Oscar for 1999's "American Beauty," which also was awarded Best Picture. w Mendes, a 43-year-old Brit, had a flourishing directing career on the British stage in the 1990s. He's made interesting, if not altogether successful, choices since "American Beauty," directing the moody gangster saga "Road to Perdition," based on a graphic novel, and the psychological war drama "Jarhead." wNow he's back with "Revolutionary Road," reuniting his wife, Kate Winslet, with her "Titanic" co-star, Leonardo DiCaprio. They play a suburban couple in the 1950s whose lives are not turning out at all the way they had hoped. It's based on a novel by Richard Yates, an all-but-forgotten writer whose career has gotten a boost 15 years after his death. w Mendes talked about what drew him to the book.

Q: What attracted you to this project?

A: It was very simple, the two of them: Frank and April. I read the screenplay first and I didn't love it. But when I read the book I had some kind of access into the characters' inner world. Frank is so weak and gutless and guilt-ridden and deceiving and yet completely sympathetic at the same time, and April is so mysterious and so unreachable and complex.

Q: Did you always have your wife in mind for April?

A: Actually, Kate read it before me and wanted to do it. So when I read it, I never imagined anyone else as April. It didn't take a genius to think of Leonardo for Frank. He is so vulnerable and boyish, and yet you get the feeling that he has become a man in the last couple of years. I was just amazed, when I sent (the book) to him, at his willingness to play a weak man. You get an impression he only wants to play heroic the whole time, but he was amazingly brave playing someone so flawed.

In this image released by Paramount Vantage, Leonardo DiCaprio, left, and Kate Winslet are shown in a scene from, "Revolutionary Road." (AP Photo/Paramount Vantage, Francois Duhamel) ** NO SALES **

Q: Your wife has been quoted saying she couldn't wait to get the kids to bed so she could pick your brains about her role. Did it ever get too intense around the Mendes household?

A: I am somebody who, when I work, I like to come home and switch off. I realized that was not going to be possible on this film. It was 24 hours a day. Kate is very focused and detail-oriented. She didn't wake me up to ask questions. But she was waiting for me to wake up so she could.

Q: Have you come close to directing her before?

A: Strangely enough, we never got past the starting gate on anything. We were both very cautious about waiting for the right movie.

Q: Did the two of you ever fight over how to do a scene?

A: No, but that would never happen with anyone. I am naturally the friend type of director. I always adjust to whomever I am working with. I am not the type of director who shouts and screams and makes rows.