I tend to have a cup of tea, try to stop worrying about what I did wrong, cool down and will the audience back in as soon as possible.

My own grandfathers were a submarine commander and a 'desert rats' tank operator in the Second World War.

I'm always keen to use my body in my work, so I'm looking forward to the motion capture for Smaug. Both Gollum and King Kong were primates, whereas I'm playing a serpent, so it'll be interesting - I'll have to tie my legs together, possibly, or else they'll be kind of splayed out to the side as a reptile's should be.

I think now with fundamentalists, people who treat belief with a total lack of humor or empathy for any other viewpoint than their own - they, to me, are the enemy. And those people are born out of desperate extremes.

Being a posh actor in England you cannot escape the class-typing from whatever side you look at it.

As an actor, you are aware of how a role can seep into your real life.

New York City is crazy and beautiful and really close to my heart, and I've always had dear friends here - family, actually, I would say.