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.

I do take my work seriously and the way to do that is not to take yourself too seriously.

I think every English actor is nervous of a Newcastle accent.

I have every sympathy for writers. It's a mystery to me what they do. I can edit. I can cross out and say, 'I'm not saying that' or, 'How about we move this to here? Wouldn't that make that bit of the story better?' But where any of it comes from is beyond me. I will never write a play or a novel.

I'm a lot less serious than people think, it's probably because the way my face is put together.

One thing I will say - my job gets harder and harder. The more you understand about what you are capable of, the less the instrument can do it physically. It's an inverse equation, if that's the right phrase. I just slammed those two words together. It sounded right.

Maverick is a word which appeals to me more than misfit. Maverick is active, misfit is passive.