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.

Why don't I like you?" "Because you think I'm an asshole, and I'm not really, I'm just British and, well, you're not.

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

We're dead as a species if we don't tell stories, because then we don't know who we are.

You know, London is so sprawling, and you can sometimes forget that anybody else is on a stage anywhere else.

If only life could be a little more tender and art a little more robust.

Originally, theater was my life. It was what I assumed I'd spend my working life doing - if I was lucky. Then along came movies.