It's funny because growing up, when Ali G first burst off the screen, it was something that I was probably too young to be watching, but I absolutely loved it.

Music was a big thing for me growing up and Scorsese and Tarantino both use music brilliantly in movies. They're probably two of the best at using music.

I want to go to the extremes and transformation is something I'm fascinated by. At the same time, you can transform but you can only really put what you've got inside you into somebody, so there's always going to be a degree of you inhabiting any role.

I've got to give my brother a lot of credit because he's always introduced me to a lot of things and those films spiked an interest of, "Wow, this is an incredible world, how do you be a part of that?" That definitely helped me through my school years of doing theater.

I did listen to 1920s jazz or Al Johnson and a lot of early singers coming out of England. I would branch out a little bit to get a sense of the world that he might be coming into, in the '30s when jazz was changing.

I can get quite down on myself because if people don't like what you're doing, it's hard.

I like going to see live bands. Live bands can be quite heavy, but I think it's very relaxing at the same time because you feel so happy and chilled-out.