I spent two years in the military service, then I trudged around in repertory for quite a while. I somehow wound up at the National Theatre, though, and then I was definitely on my way.

That's what happens if you don't address the darkness in you. You become repressed and depressed and suicidal.

I was hell bent on destruction... it was like being possessed by a demon.

I read a lot, that's my main hobby. I've got an iPad which I store books on and I read voraciously. I'm a slow reader but I'm obsessive. I make references, underline things, cross-reference. I'm an autodidact.

Once you begin to fall off the track and believe you breathe different air to everyone else, you're doomed; you're finished.

I wouldn't use the word 'scared' for my role as Hitchcock, but it was my most insecure. Taking on such a formidable, giant personality such as Hitchcock; he was one of the great geniuses of world cinema. Sheer genius.

The reward is in the doing of it.