We didn’t need the Internet for Nazi Germany to happen. But I feel like there’s this lack of humanity because of it.
I like tourists. I think it’s nice to live in a town that people come from all over to visit.
After Cannes, my agent told me to get the next flight to LA. He was right. I had a part in ‘Prime Suspect 3’ by the end of the week.
What we do is ridiculous! I think that even when what I’m doing is serious, even when I’m not turning into a werewolf. It’s a silly thing to do, isn’t it? It’s what you do in the playground when you’re kids – but actors just never stop doing it.
‘Harry Potter’ is very nice because it’s very easy to make children happy. All you have to do is have your photograph taken with them.
I got hooked to American news like a great TV season. It plays like fiction. I would come home from work, and I would put it on, and I would stay up until 2 in the morning watching it and get up in the morning and watch it.
I’ve realized over the years I either play very good people or very bad people, and I think I always enjoy the very bad people more.
‘Naked’ kind of kicked me off into the film world. It just so happens that all of the things that I have been offered have been films, and I’ve enjoyed the travel that goes along with that.
You become judged entirely on your ability to bring in the dollars, and the fact that none of the films I did was a huge hit became significant.
I’d only read a bit of the first book. And I just knew about all the media furor over it. But I’d not read books 2 or 3. I’d just read a bit of it. And I’d seen the films.
After Cannes, my agent told me to get the next flight to LA. He was right. I had a part in ‘Prime Suspect 3’ by the end of the week.
What we do is ridiculous! I think that even when what I’m doing is serious, even when I’m not turning into a werewolf. It’s a silly thing to do, isn’t it? It’s what you do in the playground when you’re kids – but actors just never stop doing it.
‘An Inspector Calls’ is a British classic, and I am thrilled to be working on this beautiful screen adaptation with Aisling Walsh.
I’m much more Buddhist. I mean, I’m not a Buddhist. I should be so lucky to be a Buddhist, a real Buddhist, but of all the things I investigated, that seems to make the most sense to me.
I see people around me with very unhappy love lives, who may have held out for that perfect somebody. And the failure to achieve that brings along a lot of bitterness which is very unattractive; therefore they’re probably less likely to achieve it.
Before Anna, I’d had a few relationships and I’m glad I’ve been around a bit. I know where it’s gone wrong or know who are the wrong people for me and who I might be wrong for.
Playing a character who becomes a Buddhist was a great experience.
I don’t think Alfonso was a big expert on Potter either. He was feeling his way through it more than I was.
It wasn’t a good idea to work on ‘Naked’ in the first months of a marriage. I was living apart from my wife in a flat overflowing with books I was reading for the part.
When you do something well, this is the best job in the world.
I don’t think its good for the soul to invest too much of yourself in technology.
When I’m sat in the pub with my mates, they’ve got their stories: Richard and Tracy have split up, they went to Arsenal and this fight broke out… My anecdotes are like, ‘I was in this bar, and Michelle Pfeiffer rang, and I had wax in my ear, so I couldn’t hear what she was saying…’
The very best thing about doing it is seeing the reaction on kid’s faces when you tell them you’ve done it.
I must have read three-quarters of ‘Anna Karenina’ on my phone. Which might be a record.
I’d been a stepparent for about two years with a woman who had a child, and I came to realize I adored children and was good with them. So I was very happy when Anna got pregnant.
I often draw from people in my own experience to base a character on, going back to my days with Mike Leigh.
Pages: 1 2
