Richard Burton was Welsh; Tom Jones is Welsh, and we Welshmen like to think of ourselves as heroes – on screen and off!
You can’t relate to a superhero, to a superman, but you can identify with a real man who in times of crisis draws forth some extraordinary quality from within himself and triumphs but only after a struggle.
Real courage is knowing what faces you and knowing how to face it.
If you’re a boy, you always want to be in a western; and any actor I know would like to be in a horror.
I’m guessing the stress of having to write for a deadline can be inspiring. Sometimes, pressure is good.
I’ve never liked talking about my personal life, ever. Ever since I was 20, I’ve lived in a kind of public arena; and there have been stalkers, blackmailers, death threats, physical violence and threats to friends of mine, colleagues of mine, to myself.
It’s very important to make the man believable so that you can stretch the fantasy. Whether people like this kind of Bond is another question.
Don’t ask me about my career – I’ve forgotten most of it.
If you grow up in Britain, you just do Shakespeare. If you go and work in a theater once or twice or three times in your life, you’re going to end up doing a Shakespeare, because he’s obviously such a brilliant, brilliant writer.
If you behave like a regular guy, you get treated like a regular guy. You can’t cut yourself off from the world. You ultimately would go crazy, wouldn’t you?
It’s horrid to be called a Shakespearean actor because that’s incredibly limiting, and we love acting. We like telling stories; anything that excites us we want to be a part of. Science fiction is fun, too!