He is renowned as one of the UK's most intense and committed actors, and now Paddy Considine is taking his talent behind the camera.

His debut short, Dog Altogether, picked up a Venice Silver Lion last year and a Bafta this year - and he is writing his feature debut, Tyrannosaur.

In development with Warp Films and Film4, the $2m feature will star Olivia Colman (Dog Altogether, Peep Show) as a woman in an abusive relationship. "She does a very brave act," Considine says. "And the film's about the cost of making that decision.

"It was going to be a short film but I started writing it and it was kind of telling me it wanted to be something bigger," Considine says. "I want to make it next year."

Stepping behind the camera has been liberating for Considine, who talks of "always having been at the mercy of someone else" as an actor. It has also been a challenge. "I'm not a particularly technically gifted person," Considine says. "That's never been interesting to me, the technicalities of how to break down a scene. I've been around a lot of people who talk a good fight but they can't execute anything. I just wanted to craft a story, and one thing I knew I could do was direct actors."

Considine is reuniting with Shane Meadows for King Of The Gypsies, a long-gestating project about bare-knuckle boxer Bartley Gorman. There is also Le Donk, a film shot in a few days by Meadows about a roadie who ends up rapping at an Arctic Monkeys concert. "That was just a total laugh," Considine says.

It was a laugh, but it is the kind of immersive role Considine can get his teeth into. "When I own a character, I own it and that's it. I own everything," he says. "When I'm given a character on a page, I don't have the ability to go and invent somebody as much as some other actors. When I look at Romeo Brass, I think nobody else could play that role because that was mine. And Richard in Dead Man's Shoes ... and even something as silly as Le Donk."

In addition to his collaborations with Meadows, Considine has had memorable roles in In America, My Summer Of Love and Paul Greengrass' The Bourne Ultimatum. Also shot are Anthony Page's My Zinc Bed and Jamie Thraves' psychological thriller Cry Of The Owl, adapted from the Patricia Highsmith novel. "Jamie's a good director," Considine says. "He's a very gifted man and I hope the film's turned out well."

Apart from that, Considine - who also sings in indie-rock band Riding The Low - says there are no other roles on the horizon. "I'm going to just hold out and hope something comes my way that I can really get into."