It can be a miserable profession, acting, because you always want what you can’t have.
As a runner on a film, you are the lowest of the low, and yet you have incredible access to everyone. I can totally imagine that for actors in the middle of a Hollywood bubble, all they really want is a sense of normality, and that gopher can be a tap for that.
Ladies and babies, and mortgages, for that matter, can all wait. Acting has done a strange thing to me, though. I often sit there, thinking, ‘I love this, but I wouldn’t put my daughter on the stage.’
Tequila is my salmon.
Most actors hate watching their own films because all you can see is the glaring mistakes, your own tricks and ticks.
In England we have this saying about Marmite: people either love it or hate it. That’s like a lot of the movie work I’ve done. People either find it repulsive or find it really interesting and get engaged in it.
I always think of comedy as being spontaneous, and yet everything about filmmaking is not spontaneous.
I go to the theater two or three times a week when I’m in London. Whereas I feel guilty going to the cinema in the middle of the afternoon.
My first film, ‘Like Minds,’ was with Toni Colette, who was extraordinary. I mean it was basically a mini-masterclass for acting on film at a time when all you could probably see were my eyebrows bouncing up and down on screen.
Making a film or doing a play are completely different experiences and entirely fulfilling, but completely unique. I also think one complements the other. People often say that theater is about flexing your muscles, and is actually real acting, whereas I sort of disagree.
It’s the weird thing Eton does – you’re at school next to lords and earls and, in my case, Prince William, so you end up being used to dealing with those sorts of people.
If you’re an English actor and turn up in America, they don’t have an opinion about where you sit. They have no idea what auditions to send you to, so they send you to everything.
If I do a film and have to get naked, that tends to dictate how often I go to the gym. Acting in ‘Richard II’ on stage was a huge physical workout, so I ended up more toned than I normally am.
I’m quite ignorant about fashion and I’m colourblind, so it’s all a tad tricky. My only knowledge of that world comes through Christopher Bailey, whom I first met in 2008 when I did a campaign for Burberry that featured musicians, artists, actors and sportsmen.
A lot of people think theatre must be much harder work than film, but anything histrionic or superfluous gets seen on camera so you have to work to distil it into a complete sense of what’s true.
And you can’t complain about kissing Emma Watson. Isn’t that what everyone in the world wants to do? I’ve known Emma for a few years. She’s this amazing capacity of young and vibrant and brilliant, but also a bright, intelligent old soul.
I did an interview once where I was asked who I found attractive and I went on about cartoons and Nala from ‘The Lion King’ – and it’s a bit weird but various of my ex-girlfriends actually did look like Nala.
I do get stopped a bit now and then, but I can go to the supermarket and on the Tube without being noticed. It’s usually me that gets starstruck, especially by TV stars.
I had never been to a fashion show before going to the Burberry show last month. It was an extraordinary spectacle. I was incredibly green and had no idea what an undertaking it is. I also have a new respect for models because they are so close to the front row and must be so self-conscious.
I think all actors have a similar deal. You want some people who understand. Although it looks great – and is great – there are also shoddy moments when you feel really rotten, and when it’s going well, you’re not allowed to complain.
Two years ago, I shot ‘Pillars of the Earth’ in Budapest – it was a big part, but I had a lot of time to sit around and visit cafes.