I think in the old days, everybody used to act really quickly because Hollywood was built by theatre people.

I don't do plays without jokes anymore. I've retired from those plays. I think it's bad manners to invite people to sit in the dark for two and a half hours and not tell them the joke.

I wanted to be a journalist, I thought it was glamorous and that I'd meet beautiful women in the rain.

Emma Watson is adorable in the extreme. She is such a lovely person.

As you get older you feel you need to pay more attention to what is around you and relish it. I'm greedy for beauty.

Opening a play is just tough. The idea that actors are weirdly protected from it is a myth. If you imagine yourself having to spend two and a bit hours cooking bolognaise, remembering a whole major work by David Hare and speaking it at the correct moment between chopping carrots and stirring the onions in front of an audience - the normal human response is 'Please, can I go to the airport?'

It's probably healthier to find fame later in life.