No matter how much technique you draw on or how much training you have, acting is a mystery.

I find that at almost every press junket I get that comment, "this character's different from what you generally play..." And that's OK! But I think "generally play" stems back to Mr Darcy. I'm fine with it but I tend to find that if it's a departure, which in other people's words it always is, it's always a departure from that.

I was delighted to become a popular-culture reference point. I'm still delighted about it actually, and I still find it to be weird.

Less racist now but it has been. I don't think it's been completely stamped out. There's a class element to it. And who's supposed to do what. You're very unlikely to get a gay grip.

As much as the next person, I want to be approved of, but I'm not greedy for that stuff.

When I'm really into a novel, I'm seeing the world differently during that time— not just for the hour or so in the day when I get to read. I'm actually walking around in a haze, spellbound by the book and looking at everything through a different prism.

Sometimes to think about why some institutions are stable, it's interesting to go one generation back and look at the author of that stability.