In life, if you have an enthusiasm for what they call 'good manners,' sometimes people don't quite believe you. I've had that once or twice before, where they assume you can't be for real.

You can ruin your life wanting to be an actor.

You get older and you see yourself and say, 'God, he's old, who's that?'

I'm lucky that I get to play a wide variety of parts.

Anti-Semitism and Fascism have a long, mysterious, bewildering, poisonous and vile history and it's not exclusive to the Germans.

I guess part of the hit-man appeal is the solitude. Everybody is lured to the idea of the solitary life.

I admire David Hare as much as I admire certainly any writer ever. What I like about his writing is it is very conscientiously, in one way, an attempt to reproduce the way people actually speak, but it's not just an attempt at naturalism. It's stylised and it's heightened, to great effect. It's elegant and it's funny and that's the way to my heart, frankly.