I’ve done a lot of period stuff but that’s mostly because, in England, we get off on a lot of period stuff, but it’s not any kind of particular choice. That’s where a lot of the work is.
I’ve never been any good with authority.
I don’t want to be carried out of a club wearing a tie-dye T-shirt and a cap on the wrong way around when I am 70, but I would like to settle down a bit. Maybe with a partner.
I went to boarding school at seven and cried and cried.
I was basically adventurous, I think I wanted to try everything.
I think marriage is ghastly.
I think it’s fun playing a part that lots of other people have played, in a way.
It’s amazing the clarity that comes with psychotic jealousy.
I am at that age when you panic at the slightest thing.
Honestly, I would not advise any actor necessarily, if he was really thinking of his career, to come out.
I don’t think many actors are that good, to be honest. I certainly don’t think I am.
To be a soldier one needs that special gene, that extra something, that enables a person to jump into one on one combat, something, after all, that is unimaginable to most of us, as we are simply not brave enough.
I’m miserable: that’s why I have such a bad back, because I’m endlessly stressing out about my career.
My idea of a holiday was following my family up the hill with my pekinese, who would skip over the heather in front of me.
Listen, in England people are already writing their memoirs at the age of 23.
The interesting thing about Sherlock is that he is himself a reflection of that very English duality. As a drug addict, he is a criminal. But he is also a crime fighter. That makes him an extremely potent character to personify the hypocrisy of a culture that is both moralistic and corrupt.
Actors make bad lovers. Their most important kiss is for the camera. Not in a superficial way, in a really deep way. They can only give everything if they know someone is going to shout cut!
What’s happened to humour? We’re becoming American. Everyone gets so angry over everything.
I don’t accept my business the way it is, to be honest. I don’t like what it’s become. I don’t blame anyone for it becoming the way it has. It’s got its own hideous natural progression, just like world events.
Why are men talking about what clothes they’re wearing? It’s so unmanly, I think. It’s like Versailles before the Revolution, without the style.
The thing about lying is, it is quite exhausting – you have to remember a lot.