Between Peter and Carl, it’s really a love story. It’s very difficult to define their relationship. There is a lot of love, too much competition. Even before shooting began, Peter called me and asked me: “Is Carl there?” I answered “No, not yet.” Then he told me: “In that case I’ll wait until he shows up.” Peter wanted to be the last to arrive. And Carl did the same thing. When they were lined up four to a picture, if Carl progressed a few centimeters, Pete did the same. They fought to have the total attention of others but also from the other. They fought about who was the best songwriter, who was the smartest. As a result, this has given us great things artistically. But Carl felt that it was getting too intense. He needed to see other people. As in any relationship. When I started the film I had not realized how Peter had felt betrayed. I understood afterwards. Peter was the most involved of all in the group. Fame can turn into poison. I remember in New York, Damon Albarn of Blur came backstage. He took cocaine with everyone. And Peter was not at all interested. He shook hands but he did not even look. Carl himself was playing with Damon. Peter was not looking for these social events, he wanted above all for the Libertines to become the biggest band in the world. When you feel so isolated, it is not very healthy. I think it was from that moment that things went wrong.

We’d always fall out quite a lot. It was usually sort of - bickery stuff. Yeah, I’ve always been quite cantankerous. It reached fever pitch when he was drinking a massive bottle of mineral water. At the time I found that very poncey, that he’d like mineral water, but his parents had brought it from Germany. But he was drinking it, slagging me off, leaning against a cooker, and I remember I kicked it out of his mouth. And that’s when he got really angry and upset, and he phoned the police. And then the police came round, and they said “Alright, what’s going on here?” and then we were like, “Well I’m not talking”, “Well, I’m not talking to you either”.
And then they went, “So, what do you do?” and I went, [superciliously] “I’m an actor”.
And then they went to Peter, “What do you do?” [wails, dramatically] “I’m a poet!