The industry has changed. Two years ago I could tell a company I’ve got Russell Crowe and that would get the film made. Now they’d ask ‘And who’s the girl?’ Just one famous face isn’t enough any more.
To be able to do this job in the first place you’ve got to have a bit of an ego.
To be honest, Im a little tired of playing bad guys. I long to do a comedy. But it was fun knocking Indiana Jones around.
I tend to read non-fiction.
I don’t go to premieres. I don’t go to parties. I don’t covet the Oscar. I don’t want any of that. I don’t go out. I just have dinner at home every night with my kids. Being famous, that’s a whole other career. And I haven’t got any energy for it.
And costume is so important for an actor. It absolutely helps to get into character; it’s the closest thing to you, it touches you. Some actors like to go into make-up and then put their clothes on, but I like to dress first; that’s my routine.
My big love was the Beatles. I was more into music.
I have three kids who like Harry Potter so I was sort of aware of it. You can’t really move from it: it’s on buses, in stores, it’s everywhere. One of my kids has read the books; the other two are too small but they like the movies.
I like celluloid, I like film, I like the way that when a movie is projected it sort of breathes a little in the gate. That’s the magic of it to me.
How do you remember all those lines? By forgetting everything else.
Over the years, I have been asked to play these sort of scary frenetic characters that express their emotions physically.
It’s funny: I’m a lifelong musician, but because I principally play the piano it’s been a solitary thing.
Shakespeare doesn’t really write subtext, you play the subtext.
The building of America has had its fair share of mistakes, but it’s a constitution that’s the jewel of democracy, the envy of many, and it’s the most generous nation in the world.
I know I’m pretty, but I ain’t as pretty as a couple of titties.
Interesting things come your way but as you get older, your lifestyle changes. I don’t want to travel; I don’t want to be in a hotel room away from my family.
I wasn’t ever a huge fan of comics. Just not one of those kids, you know?
I applaud anything that can take a kid away from a PlayStation or a Gameboy – that is a miracle in itself.
People imagine that actors are being offered everything and you are not. So things come in and sometimes there are things that I want and can’t get a meeting on, or go to a different actors.
I’m almost incapable of lying. I’d be a terrible spy.