When we'd suggested doing it, the Theatre Royal management had said, 'Nobody wants to see Waiting for Godot.' As it happened, every single ticket was booked for every single performance, and this confirmation that our judgment was right was sweet. Audiences came to us from all over the world. It was amazing.

I often thought my gravestone would say, 'Here lies Gandalf. He came out,'

My memory of 3D movies is Fernando Lamas in a swashbuckling movie. And I suppose it had been the fifties, in which swords came out at you, bullets came out at you, things were thrown into the auditorium, apparently. All that sort of cheap, "Oh, look at us, we've got 3D" isn't in the film.

Most of the time when you do a job, a play or a film, you're wondering, "Will there be an audience?"

You can always pick out stage actors at the Oscars: they know how to walk.

I can't take on all the worries of the world, you know. I can only talk about being gay and being an actor. I'll have to leave those other battles to somebody else.

Splendid architecture, the love of your life, an old friend... they can all go drifting by unseen if youre not careful.