I've never had to turn my hand to anything for monetary gain, other than pretending to be somebody else. I'm deeply fortunate.

There have not been any troughs as regards my work. There's never been a trough of my assurance.

We are adjusters. We empathize, we change rhythm and above all we listen to our fellow actors-if they're good actors.

My wife and I have now founded Lavender Pictures. If one has one's own company, there are very few surprises, but there's still the actual thrill of trying to get these projects off the ground. We're meeting with some measure of success. Always, now and at any stage of my career, I'm open to ambush, but there have been the most extraordinary set of coincidences, which continues through my journey, and I find it thrilling. Often, out of left field and quite randomly, comes a project and I think, "My god, there you are!" It's quite beautiful, really.

There is so much to do on a film set. It is an extraordinarily invigorating and wonderful place to be, when things are running well.

I was fortunate as a young actor, to go straight to the RSC, where I learned that being an actor can bring with it wonderful responsibilities.

I never went to drama school. I went straight into the theater. We had the most extraordinary voice teacher. I worked with her when I was starting out in my career. How to place my voice from a very relaxed position was all wonderfully reminiscent of going back to the basics. But I always like to do that with any role that I do, to dismantle it and put it all back together again.