So, if I ever played Napoleon it would be with an Italian accent. He was an outsider, which also interests me.

I was a typical teen growing up in the 1960s, when everybody was into gurus and meditation.

My fun as an actor and my task as an actor is to transform myself to become other people. I enjoy becoming characters but I don't enjoy becoming caricatures. The research I do is only necessary in so far as we move into other dimensions.

Deep inside, I am desperate to do comedy.

I'm never bored, never ever bored. If I've got a day off I'll sit in a cafe and watch and observe. I'm a great observer.

When I was 16, I made some little 35mm documentaries about the poor in London. I went round Notting Hill, which was a real slum in the 1950s, shooting film.

A successful swindler has to be a great salesman even more than a great actor.