I like working on things that are very different and that involve different disguises.
It’s really rare for film directors to be that interested in things other than themselves.
I don’t feel I’m a compulsive person. I multitask. I’m really well-organised, and I have lots of people to help me.
I think American actors are much more intimidated by Shakespeare.
Macbeth was the first play I ever read.
It’s exciting to be with really, really good people. Some people make you feel like you’ve got to up your game. Working with good people is always good.
Once in a while it’s good to challenge yourself in a way that’s really daunting.
Sometimes people do you a favour when they drop out of your life.
I love a film where I get squished by two dumpsters or I fly through the air.
You’ll see Dame Judi Dench in a Bond film, in Shakespeare and then starring in her own sitcom. You never see that here with Meryl Streep.
I was so scared of going back to the theatre after ‘Hamlet.’ I didn’t know if I’d do a play again because I was afraid of the power of it.
Romeo is the most misunderstood character in literature, I think. He’s hardcore to play because he’s displaying the characteristics of Hamlet at the beginning, and, well, then everything else happens.
I’m Scottish first, and it’s odd to hear that I’m a Scottish-American.
For example, Americans seem reluctant to take on Shakespeare because you don’t think you’re very good at it – which is rubbish. You’re missing out here.
Be who you like as long as you mean it.
I have no regrets in my life even the crazy things I’ve been in. It all made me the I am today and I wouldn’t change anything. I’m happy with who I am!
So the experts think we could have an AIDS-free generation in Africa by 2015, even if the mothers are positive.
I started to itch to do a play again and ‘Macbeth’ came to the surface in my mind. I never thought I would do it in a conventional way. A sweaty Macbeth with blood on his arms coming in fresh from the battle doesn’t interest me.
I come more to Scotland than I ever used to, so I feel more connected to it, more part of the zeitgeist. You know when you realize you have a choice and I’m choosing my homeland. It’s funny: when you get older these things creep up to you.
Actors aren’t stupid, mostly, and if there’s a sensibility and an aesthetic that a director’s going for, if you’re aware of that too, you can do things to help that.