I wanted to take the audience on a journey where that transition was funny and awkward. It's the same cynicism that [Strange] has.

When I was young I became kind of a party animal. I had a massive crash. My health suffered. I was just overdoing it. That person could not be further from the one who emerged from that earlier experience. I regressed massively.

Landing the role of Stephen Hawking was the most positively surprising thing that has happened to me.

If you can't jump on board when the ride's going past that's it, it usually goes by, so the hugest compliment they paid me was to come back to me. It motivated me to try to fulfill their faith.

What's not to look forward to? It's like all the actors in all of the films. It's difficult to get Martin Freeman and I in a room together. Imagine what it's like to get myself, Chris Hemsworth, Robert Downey Jr., Elizabeth Olsen... these extraordinary actors who all have careers outside the Marvel Universe.

I never really got obsessed about one thing for long. I was a bit of a butterfly and a magpie.

There's a huge raft of roles that actors in our culture perform, and you can see any one of about three Hamlets in a year. It's not something to be completely daunted by.