Hi, Noah! What's it like in Belfast?

I'm in Brighton. (1)

Ah sorry. For the surfing?

Not all Aussies surf. But a few reckless types do here. You can get waves off the ruins of the old west pier, where the steel girders stick out.

You've lived over here for ages.

Almost 17 years. I still call Australia home but I'm used to English life. And in a way Australia feels quite foreign to me now, both in an exotic sense but also when you've been away from somewhere for a long time, it's not so much that the place has changed but it's a different era. You're nostalgic for that.

You're a patron (2) of this year's Australian film festival. What do your duties involve?

Not much, really, to tell you the truth. Having my name on it, for whatever that's worth, and occasionally talking to people like yourself. I'm doing it out of some sort of patriotic sense of duty. It's a great festival and they're all doing it voluntarily this year. And the industry is important. Lots of Australians go to Hollywood after making a few films. It's a really good training ground, partly because the budgets are small, so they have to rely on a decent script and acting and plotting rather than throwing a bunch of special effects at it.

Do you feel like a elder statesman?

I felt old. I feel elder. Being an ambassador isn't a title I'm particularly comfortable with because I'm not generally a diplomatic personality type.

There seems to be a bit of a grisly new wave of Aussie cinema (3).

Yeah, that's probably a generational thing. It's like when, say, Lock Stock came out here, everyone wanted to make East End gangster films, and one of the definitive films for those Aussies is Chopper. Which is superb and so when you have a film like that, it makes producers more comfortable with financing darker scripts. And undoubtedly those scripts are a reflection of a certain aspect of Australia. Prior to that there was an era of big landscapes and horses.

You were in Red Dog, too: that was pretty popular.

Well, people like dogs, don't they?

Do you?

They're alright. Take or leave em. I'm more of a cat person.

Is it right that before your first films (4), you wanted to join the army?

That was my one real ambition, and I got it from reading war comics. I think they have a magazine aimed at under 15s and they did a study and a high percentage who joined had read it, which is a little scary. But that idea faded when I became a teen and I realised I didn't really like getting up early and being told what to do.

And you play music (5) and paint (6), too.

I play about once a month in pubs and I've got a little studio. I do lots of different things but I don't do them with any great ambition or plan to succeed. Just in the past couple of years I've tried to be a bit more serious. You have a lot of time on your hands as an under-employed actor and I don't like sitting round doing nothing and at a certain point if you're not doing anything with your hobby it becomes a dull. Even if you're not having any particularly great success it's good to get things out there it legitimises it a bit more.

But your music is quite successful.

It depends how you define success. If it's by making money, it's very unsuccessful but it's almost impossible to make money from music unless you are a chart-topping global sensation or a super-cute boy band, or their manager, and you have a good line in ring tones.

Could you make your songs into ringtones?

Not pleasant ones.

Your song Fuck You (7) is pretty catchy. Do you ever hear people singing it?

I never have, it's a shame. I had my first singalong experience the other night – I did a cover of Like a Virgin and these Aussie girls joined in. So I felt like a genuine pub entertainer. It's better than being all introverted and just doing songs about a very sad time in my life and all that crap. It was good to have a singalong.

Do you ever feel an affinity with Madonna?

Not really.

You once said that there are four types of songs: the falling in love song; the you don't love me song; the it's all over song; and the I want to hop in your pants song. What's your favourite?

Everyone likes falling in love songs best. But very chirpy love songs if you're devastated are generally unwelcome. I really like country and western songs (8) because they're complete literary masterpieces. You've got to have three acts; you can't have just whatever as you can with rock songs. Country has a real discipline.

Do you get recognised a lot?

I think you've overestimating my place in the world. (9) A few people think I'm Ben Mendelsohn (10). I was mistaken for Prince once in Africa when I had a moustache.

Did you correct them?

I felt it was the right thing to do. Sometimes someone will come up to me and say "Tomb Raider" (11), which always makes me feel good. Most people are pleasant and I try to be pleasant back. I've occasionally gone up to someone whose work I admire on some level and if they've been an arsehole, it really ruins their work for you. I almost met Lou Reed once and I decided not to about five seconds before. He's got a bit of reputation and I would hate not to be able to listen to his records any more.

It's your birthday next week (12): can we get you a gift ?

Cash is always good. As much as you like; I'm not fussed.

• Film Fest Australia runs 14 - 23 September
• Taylor also features in Lawless, released in the UK on 7 September

Footnotes

[1] Adopted hometown. Nick Cave is a neighbour. Was in Belfast shooting The Double, he and Richard Ayoade's follow-up to Submarine. He calls Ayoade "a genuine genius and the nicest guy you'll ever meet".

[2] The other is Geoffrey Rush; they played David Helfgott young and old in Shine.

[3] Snowtown, Animal Kingdom, Wolf Creek, Sleeping Beauty, The Loved One etc.

[4] The Year My Voice Broke, Flirting.

[5] He has been in loads of bands, including Cardboard Box Man, Flipper & Humphrey, and currently fronts Noah Taylor and the Sloppy Boys.

[6] Naive-ish sketches and massive oils featuring Elvis, pubs and self-portraits. Also a larky copy of the Mona Lisa.

[7] Not the Cee-Lo song, but Taylor's own tune, from his album Live Free or Die!!!

[8] He was in a country band called the Thirteens.

[9] Modest. Our picture editor named her son after him.

[10] Starred in Animal Kingdom, worked with Taylor in Terrence Malick's The New World, and is the best thing in upcoming Brad Pitt drama Killing Them Softly.

[11] Lara Croft actioneer; Taylor played a computer geek.

[12] 4 September; he'll be 43.