I still find to give an interview to be difficult, as any person who deals with the press will tell you. That's why it's nice, with this one, to talk to a friend. But sometimes with a coffee and a friendly smile, I suddenly start talking without thinking about how it's going to be read.

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.

I'm not confident in social situations; just going up to someone in a bar and saying 'Hi' is going to be even more difficult because they won't know the real me. They will just know me as a fictional person I play on the screen.

I've gone up two suit sizes. The character I'm playing, he's strong, I can say that much. I've changed my physique a bit, so that requires eating like a foie gras goose, well beyond your appetite. Providing I don't feel too ill, I then work out two hours a day with a phenomenal trainer. It's the L.A. way.

I play enough other mad people, as well and some sane people, to vary the palette of what's scrabbling around in my head and soul to bring to the floor, as a storyteller.

[Role of Dr.Strange] gives me an excuse as an actor to be learning with my character, which is something you can do authentically - I'm not a martial arts expert, I'm certainly no sorcerer, so all these things, the movement of the body, the physicality, the changes he goes through mentally and physically, obviously we're not shooting in sequence, but it's a great part.

Doctor Strange is selfish but he's still saving lives.