I think if I were to go back on stage I might be in great danger of acting.
I think I’m more bonded, emotionally and in a craft sense, to films that tell extraordinary stories about extraordinary destinies.
I have never felt bereft of anything.
I have a rather naive approach, I think, to my job.
Equal partners aren’t always what we envision as being manifestly equal. Equality can come in many different shapes and sizes and combinations.
I don’t honestly think people know what acting is.
Hamlet is an astonishing intelligence.
But filming is good for you, because the crew isn’t allowed to laugh. You can’t get addicted to getting the laugh.
If you are a libertine, if you’re not given to long-term faithful relationships, you tend to project your behavior onto everyone else. It’s like the person who knows they’re not trustworthy; they tend to mistrust everyone else.
All the great writers root their characters in true human behaviour.
I’m very in love with the fact that the camera is revolted by acting and loves behaviour.
I always try to find something I admire about every character I play.
My line-learning is very special. I like to learn the dialogue of the whole film before I arrive.
I think Romeo and Juliet is uplifting. That’s how much a son wishes to avenge his father. That is how much two young people can love each other.
I think that most actors, and they’re a very strange lot actors, very strange people, but I think that they attempt to keep in touch with the child.
If I were to play somebody who ran a fish and chip shop, I would not work in a fish and chip shop for three months. Staring at chips is not going to help me in my performance.
I’m so dependent on reacting to the other actors on the set, and to the director. I’m very responsive. I react. And I treasure the energy that reaction gives.
When you drop your guard in films, the acting process compensates. You get lazy and you start acting.
The hierarchy of class in London was rigid. It was like a religion. It still is to a certain extent.
I don’t want to be like the actor who rehearses everything in the bathroom, then comes to the set and carries on completely uninterrupted while the other actors tiptoe away.