We caught up with film land legend John Hurt to talk about his epic film career and his latest post as Virgin Media Shorts judge (if you missed part one, including a pic of us blushing with the man himself, catch up here). We had so much to talk to him about we couldn’t fit it all onto one page, so here’s part two of our interview with the inimitable movie maestro.

Congratulations on the success of spy thriller Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. You said recently that you found the plot hard to follow and that it’s a film you have to ‘sit up straight’ to watch. Is that a good thing?

“Absolutely. The nice thing about it – and it underlines everything I believe about audiences - is you should never underestimate an audience. They want things that we in the business sometimes think they don’t, or aren’t capable of understanding, which is ludicrous because they are capable of it. And what I think [director] Alfredson has done with Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is put out an invitation to the audience to take part in the film. And the marvellous thing is that they’ve responded. They want to take part; they want to piece the jigsaw puzzle together. I also think the film works on completely cinematic terms, as well. Even if you know the story, it’s still utterly intriguing to watch.

Is it true that you weren’t allowed to go to the cinema as a child, and would stare longingly out of the window as children lined up for their tickets?

Well, it wasn’t a strict ban, but I wasn’t allowed to go to Saturday morning pictures or anything like that, no. My mother thought that was too common. I don’t know where she got that idea from because she would often go herself! But I think she had rather sweet pretentions.

Do you make up for it now and hit the cinema as often as possible?

Oh I go to the cinema a huge amount now, yes.

If you visit a Picturehouse cinema in the next year, you’ll see the 12 shortlisted Virgin Media Shorts films playing before the main feature. What difference do you think that exposure will make to the film makers’ careers?

Oh I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t think it was a huge benefit to the film makers. I think it’s a stepping stone, and any stepping stone in this day and age for a potential film maker is absolute gold dust. They need [these opportunities]; they need them because the industry is so difficult at the moment. The more one can fan the flames and muster interest, the better.

Your acting CV is bursting with fantastic actors and directors that you’ve worked with over the years. Are there any young or rising stars that have really caught your eye recently?

Yes, I’ve worked with a few in Tinker, Tailor.. Benedict Cumberbatch, of course, and Tom Hardy - I thought he was wonderful. And Michael Fassbender – fantastic. He gives a wonderful performance. And that’s to mention just three.

Was there one actor that made you want to get into film?

Yes, definitely. Alec Guinness was a kind of mentor to me, and James Cagney, who could do it all. But Guinness was probably the most influential. He was the first person that I saw take the British tradition of going to the character, to extreme character, and managing to make it work on film. So he was an early and important influence on me.

When we asked this year’s shortlisters which era of cinema they thought was the most exciting, a lot of them answered ‘right now’. Would you agree that the changing face of film and the advent of new technologies make this a golden era in cinema?

There have been great periods of cinema, but it doesn’t mean to say there won’t be other great periods. It’s still a very young art; it’s much the youngest of them all. There’s a vast amount of stuff that’s not explored yet, but there are also many areas that have been explored which could do with being revisited.

I think Steve McQueen proves that experimental cinema lives – at the minute we can’t get people to go and see it but you know, that’s a matter of education. You have to constantly try to educate your audience. It keeps the fires burning, you know? I think if you disregard the independent world and just live according to the dictates of the studio, that smacks of the end of cinema to me. But as long as independent cinema is alive, then the cinema is going to be alive. It’ll probably change its face, you know it always does. It’s like fashions, they always come back, but they come back differently.

We heard you’re anti-Twitter. Is that because you don’t like technology, or because you’d struggle trying to express yourself in just 140 characters?

Oh I’m not against it; it just doesn’t interest me terribly. I don’t feel the need to make those kinds of communications - I like to live in the now. I like this, I like talking to you. I don’t want to pass information to somebody who doesn’t really interest me terribly.

So you don’t like hearing what everyone has had for breakfast?

No I don’t get that at all. I’m much more interested in what I’m having for breakfast, or who I’m having breakfast with. I’m not a fan of virtual living - some people are living their lives almost entirely virtually now. But you know, social media is here to stay.

Finally, we’re huge fans of David Lynch’s 1980 classic The Elephant Man here at Shorts Towers. But the make-up can’t have been fun for you – how did they do it?  

Glue. They stuck glue to my face - and lots of it. And they shaved my head, of course, because they had to get underneath the cranium. Physically it was quite tough but you got used to it. When I started and the first makeup session took 12 hours, I thought ‘they’ve found a way of making me not enjoy films.’ But then we honed it down to seven hours. And we found a new way of shooting - we shot every other day, because it was too long, my day was about 20 hours.

But you know it’s alright with a film, there’s light at the end of the tunnel. You know it will end – it isn’t like a seven year contract on television where you’re thinking ‘God! This is imprisonment!’ They were a great gang of people. Working with a young David Lynch was fantastic; it had a very vibrant feel about the whole thing. That was a really important time in my life.”

John is busy judging watching the shortlist and getting ready to present the Grand Prize to one lucky finalist in November. To have your say in this year's competition, vote for your favourite of the 12 shortlisted films and help one film maker win the People's Choice Award. You'll also go into a draw to win an iPhone 4S, iPad2 or £100 iTunes vouchers.