Actors are actually very supportive of each other.

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

If you judge the character, you cant play it.

Any actor who judges his character is a fool - for every role you play you've got to absorb that character's motives and justifications.

I knew with Snape I was working as a double agent, as it turns out, and a very good one at that.

Acting is mostly about listening. If you just focus in on what the other person is saying, acting takes care of itself to quite a large extent.

Certainly as actors, and maybe as directors, you've got to hang on to something childlike. You've got to know what play is. I haven't worked with Mike Leigh, but I know him very well and there's something open in his eyes about what's in front of him. And the same is true of Alfonso in a Mexican, mad way. There's an enthusiastic response to something. Neil Jordan, the same, when he gets excited . You just want to know there's a human being in there.