Well, the film's not only pricking the pomposity of the Church, it's pricking the pomposity, and sometimes you would think fraudulence, of the insurance companies. I had never read anything like this until I was doing the film, but Mark [Joffe, the director] and people showed me stuff where, like a flood, it mattered where the water came from. If you're flooded from above, you get the money; if you're flooded from below, you don't. What's that about?

What always staggers me is that when people blow their noses, they always look into their hankies to see what came out. What do they expect to find?

I have been made redundant before and it is a terrible blow; redundant is a rotten word because it makes you think you are useless.

It seems to me that Islam and Christianity and Judaism all have the same god, and he's telling them all different things.

It's my mind, and I reserve the right to change it as often as I like.

Try to live in a place you like.

I love fishing. It's transcendental meditation with a punchline.