This is an odd profession, and sometimes people get jealous, but I haven't really experienced any of that. Everyone's been really happy for me, which is really, really great.

Even the cerebral characters I play seem to have physical quirks. They're all "physically inhabited," for lack off a better expression. For instance, Sherlock Holmes has very particular physical gestures which are drawn out in such detail.

Mads [Mikkelsen] and I have a really epic brawl - a week shoot, lots of rehearsal - and he was just delightful. He's a dancer and a gymnast so he knows how to plant the moves. He was always saying, "Are you okay?" When you've got that level of mutual consideration you form a family very quickly.

I was very nervous about doing the Entertainment Weekly cover, because I thought, "Okay, this is the first taste, this is the first visual moment." By then I obviously knew a lot of the more iconic moments in his comic history, but still it's me. It's not a drawing, it's not an artist; it's me and I'm kinda frightened, but it seemed to go down.

It's very easy to be cynical about any kind of interference in things that are beyond our skill set.

Any irrational fears?no, i'm quite a rationalist. i'm not superstitious, i think life is too full of natural wonders and logical complexities to worry about illogical things.

All the backstories are there but not talked about.