I think as English people, we don’t want to be reminded that at one point we ruled three-quarters of the globe, and now we’re a very small country that doesn’t own three-quarters of the globe.
As a kid I never had the impulse to climb anything. I think that most kids who live in small towns or rural areas outside of the city, that’s what they do – climb walls, or trees, or whatever. To me, it was more dance classes and not being very boyish.
I think it was the sense that Turn is a spy thriller, and that’s a genre that really fascinates me, in general.
AMC is a fantastic network that does diverse programming, and does it at a really good level and of great quality.
I remember when I first came to America and I saw posters for TV shows and I was like, “What?! Why does a television show deserve space on a billboard?”
TV is a big business. In some ways, it’s surpassed films, in terms of the way people invest in these shows and invest in these characters, and give up so much of their time to follow these people’s stories.
The complexity of the situation of having a war going on around you and what that delivers to you is that you have to figure out which side to take.
If you’re living two lives and you’re lying to everyone, you’re bound to slip up, in some way, you’re bound to get something wrong, and you’re bound to get found out.
It’s a difficult position. Do you endanger your child to fight for the right thing, or do you keep your mouth shut and let your child grow up in a world where their natural rights are stripped away from them?
I never realised that the Edinburgh skyline was so interesting – it’s gothic and very urban and there’s a lot of church spires and old brownstone buildings.
When I see people talking about TV, they’re way more animated, way more passionate than when they talk about films.
I think movie making can sometimes make you lazy in your approach. Occasionally you’ll be shooting a scene and it’s not even your coverage but you’ll catch yourself slipping away and you’ll see your mind going somewhere else. But you just can’t afford to do that on stage.
If the right thing came along at the right time, it would be an enormous kind of challenge.
Wherever the good work is I’ll go.
That’s just a much more enjoyable and motivating experience for me, when I can see people who are just as obsessed with the idea as I am.
Saying “muff” to someone and trying to be romantic is incredibly difficult.
The reason I do small, independent movies is because I want to keep my soul intact and maintain some kind of integrity within this industry.
Any time you can completely immerse yourself in something it’s fun.
I love anything that kind of removes me from myself and employs something else. So, I love accents and I love pretending.
It must be hard to be a female in a David Mackenzie movie. I feel like women in his films are portrayed a certain way – like broken people.
I’m just a small guy so if I’d dropped any more weight it would have been a bit ridiculous.