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

I never mind doing press; it's never bothered me.

I don't spend a lot of time with anybody.

One of my great regrets, and I don't have many, is that I spent too long putting people's status and reputation ahead of their more important qualities. I learned far too late in life that a long list of letters after someone's name is no guarantee of compassion, kindness, humour, all the far more relevant stuff.

It can't be overstated how wonderful it is not to have to audition any more. Any actor will tell you, it's like Christmas.

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.

The phenomenon of vampires has always appealed to me. Everyone kind of likes a vampire story because it almost could be true.