I don't know why they gave me a knighthood - though it's very nice of them - but I only ever use the title in the U.S. The Americans insist on it and get offended if I don't.

I enjoy painting. I don't know if I'm good at it, but I paint. I paint very quickly.

A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti.

I never make conscious decisions. If my agent says to me, "It's a good script," I'll do it. I don't plan. I've got a lot of things to do. I'm at the roulette table and my luck seems to be running at the moment. I might as well stay there until it runs out.

How do you play Hannibal Lector? Well just don't move. Scare people by being still.

I wanted to be a musician. I just wanted to be famous because I wanted to escape from what I felt was my limitation in life... And I wanted to write music, and I didn’t know what I was doing and I never had the technique or understanding of it... But I’ve always played the piano and I can improvise on the piano, but the problem is that I can’t write down what I write. I can read music but I can’t write numbers.

You're not more than one generation from poor white trash, are you, Agent Starling?