After co-starring on the London stage in "Closer" (1997), the actor appeared opposite Alex Kingston in director Mike Hodges' absorbing crime drama "The Croupier" (1999), the film that would provide his breakthrough role as a hard-boiled dealer who conspires to defraud a casino. Owens' performances prompted critic Roger Ebert to compare his steely reserve to that of Sean Connery, noting "he doesn't give himself wholly to the action, but seems to be keeping a part of his mind outside of it, measuring and calculating." Not surprisingly, Owen quickly began topping the lists of potential successors to the James Bond role after Pierce Brosnan. Meanwhile, the actor's popularity increased when he starred in a series of four "Second Sight" telepics for the BBC, playing hot shot British detective Ross Tanner in 1999-2000, and he became an icon of cool as The Driver in a series of advertising-driven, avant garde action shorts sponsored by BMW (at BMWFilms.com) and helmed by directors John Woo, Ang Lee, Kar Wai Wong, Guy Ritchie, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Tony Scott, Joe Carnahan and John Frankenheimer in 2001-2002.