England in the '60s and the '70s was everything that history has said; it was phenomenally exciting, musically.

You try to find things that are challenging and interesting and hopefully it will be the same to the audience.

I was coming from a very cerebral, dark, difficult, layered play by Christopher Hampton and doing an action movie in Hollywood (Die Hard) with explosions, and I was holding a gun.

Actors are actually very supportive of each other.

Those of you who are not aware of my brilliant career as a stand up comic, I'm not aware of it either so we might well wonder what we're doing here.

Film has to be reflecting the world that we live in, and that's all you want to be a part of. Actors inhabit the same planet as everyone else. It's a weird thing that happens when you're an actor because people hold you up because you somehow embody in parts groups of people or people's hopes or something.

I have just returned from the dubbing studio where I spoke into a microphone as Severus Snape for absolutely the last time.