You learn stuff from every character you play about the human condition that can be quite enlightening.

I think early on it's important to put that at the back of your mind and make your own choices. Sometimes you do pick the same choices, just as a matter of course - not because someone else did it first, but because it was the best choice to make. But any actor worth his salt makes something their own.

I know that Philadelphians hate New York actors passing off New York accents as Philadelphian when they are quite different.

I haven't really had a major role in film for about 12 years. But I never stopped working in the theater. I do stuff back to back.

It's fascinating. It's also exhilarating when you see people making the exact same choices that you've made. It kind of validates what you've decided to do. I saw a wonderful production of Jessica Lange doing Streetcar with Alec Baldwin. It was gorgeous. It's a measure of what a great classic that is, that our Cate Blanchett also did an absolute amazing Blanche in Sydney, as well as in New York.

Sexism is alive and well! We were saying this forty years ago. I'm an optimist, so I like to think we've progressed in some ways - in Australia, we get equal pay.

The libel laws in Australia are a lot tougher than they are in America.