I'm not going to work for the sake of working. I'll work, if I'm extraordinarily lucky enough to continue having the same opportunities, but it will be based on whatever is there. If there's nothing around, then I'll go home and make carrot cake for awhile.

I don't think you should ever damage other people for your art.

I didn't want to do a costume drama. It's a great thing to do, but I've done them, and I didn't want to do the same thing again. Of course, costume dramas can be from all different eras, but at the time, I just felt very sure that I didn't want to be boxed in as an English actress. I wanted to be an actress, rather than an English actress.

I did The Seagull, the Chekhov play, on Broadway, a couple of years ago, and I had done it in London, and I became completely obsessed with the character, Nina, that I played in that. She's an actress. I couldn't find a play after that, that I wanted to do, because I couldn't think of doing anything else. Every part is a disappointment, once you've done that part.

With theatre especially, you don't want to do it unless you love it - there's no way you can pull it off, making people happy, making yourself happy for 12 weeks or whatever.

My character in 'Shame' is an outrageous person. Loud and uncompromising and I begged Steve McQueen to give me the job.

There's always the things that you think are going to be tough. I've been nude once, and I was like, "Oh, that's going to be a nightmare," and actually that was fine.