Ian McKellen is brilliant with research. I paid really close attention to the sources he goes to. He's a very, very intelligent man.

It's nice to know that if you've worked really hard at something, it gets recognised with a tick in the success column - however you define that, be it making a bunch of dough, which the actors never see much of, or whether it's a piece that's enlightening or stays with the audience maybe six, seven or even eight or 10 years later.

All you have to do is just believe in what's there; then, the audience will, too.

You can't see any movie nowadays really without it having some sort of CGI treatment, albeit whether it's a creature or an environment, something like that. To make a point, sort of poetically in that case, but clearly it was a drama and how do you approach it? Well, I think what you're supposed to do is what the text dictates. What you bring to it and everything you need to know should be there, and pay attention to your director.

Maybe my caveman ancestors invented the wheel or something. I'm not sure.

I remember thinking, I want to work for the camera.

I've been grateful enough, smart enough to take the work with Ian McKellen in Gods And Monsters.