"That was absolutely wonderful," Broadbent enthuses to Empire Online. "It’s great working with these people, getting up close and watching them do their work and seeing how they’re going to shoot it, how they’re going to tell the story. I found it quite an education; I’d eavesdrop on conversations and take notes. They’re just amazing people."

Starring alongside the likes of Leonardo Dicaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis and Cameron Diaz, Broadbent plays Tweed, a decidedly shady statesman. "Boss Tweed is based on a real man, he’s a corrupt New York politician. A real villain who ripped off millions of dollars from the state and ended up in prison."

As to the supposed troubles from the set, such as Scorsese's reported drubbing of Dicaprio for tardiness on set, it would appear that someone has been telling fibs. "I didn’t hear that and I didn’t notice anything like that. They’re doing something else, Leonardo and Marty, so they must have got on alright. When I was doing it, it seemed a blissful relationship."

"Actually there was a lot of scurrilous stuff in the press coming from Rome which was absolute bollocks so far as I could tell. You'd read it and think ‘where did they get that from?’