When I was growing up you would see big American films that really mythologised their landscape, that really showed the vastness and the drama of their country.

I always have a point of view. It may not be right, but it's my own.

In the '80s, everyone wanted to be in opera. It was groovy.

One of my great all-time loves in cinema, and I've seen it three times, is Bondarchuk's 'War and Peace.' Not a lot of people may have seen that film. It was made during the Soviet era.

I feel funny about owning art. I don't really want to say: "Wow, come and see my Monet - it's in a dark room at the bottom of my cellar."

I've always loved the old epics that tell a simple emotional story, whether it's the tumultuous relationship between Rhett and Scarlett or Lawrence of Arabia's passion to get lost in a faraway place.

The cold-audition process is not a science, so I ignore that.