I've done a number of things based on real people or true stories or based on books, and I'm a great believer that you have to be true to the script.

Ultimately, to have a career in movies, to a certain extent, certainly in England, you can't sustain a career in just English movies.

I couldn't bear a marriage in which one partner hinges on the other.

It's just lovely to be involved in a movie that does go back to the basics - characters and great writing.

I can't remember ever being involved in a fight in a movie where I haven't done most of it.

There's something to play if there's conflict going on. Whatever that conflict is, that's where drama is; if the character is grappling with something you've got something to play, there's layers to it.

Film is very much about capturing the essence of things - if you feel it, and you've got the right person shooting it, it'll come across. Theater's a different animal; it's physically different and requires a different discipline. In the theater, you're mining the same material, constantly honing the same thing, executing it and keeping it alive and fresh.