The audience should feel like voyeurs. Their response is absolutely crucial.

I was a student in London in the '70s, so CBGB really wasn't on my radar at all. Obviously, I was aware of the emergence of the Police in England and as an art student, I was very aware of David Byrne, but I suppose my musical taste at that time certainly didn't stretch towards the Dead Boys or the Ramones.

Who I am gets in the way of people looking innocently at the parts I play.

I do feel more myself in America. I can regress there, and they have roller-coaster parks.

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.

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.

Nothing gives me as much pleasure as travelling. I love getting on trains and boats and planes.