I put every ounce of myself into my work, but also it's important that I don't miss every single wedding of my best friends.

It was amazing how much rehearsal helped with the performance - it was almost a theatrical approach to filmmaking.

My mother [was in advertising and] worked incredibly hard when she was bringing us up. She was a working mother and a working single parent.

I've done a lot of very low-budget indie films, so it was just really exciting and fun to be doing a film where there's a lot more time and these huge, vast sets. I was like a kid in a playground. It was amazing!

As a child, I always liked dressing up and getting into character, and actors are lucky in being able to retain that playfulness, though we do seem to find it hard to grow up.

It was lucky that Ralph [Fiennes] is someone who understands both film and theater and we were able to understand that scene so well before we took it to the set.

Acting has always existed alongside my normal life. It's been a case of learning on the job. I've worked in so many styles, with so many people, so I've picked bits up from everyone and everything.