Every project has its things to be overcome, but I didn't find that there was anything particularly impossible about what we were doing - it was all quite exciting.

Working with Joe [Kosinski], definitely. I loved working with Joe. For a guy who doesn't really come from the fiction world - he comes from advertising and architecture - he's extremely easy-going and very calm. He's extremely detailed, but a very generous and fun director to work with. He really encouraged me to find the fun in the part and to have fun with it.

The problem with trying to make a film good and have it work for an audience is the problem of trying to tell a story well. The shape or the color of it doesn't matter.

Cable series have more time to focus on characters, and a structure that allows for a development in character as you go along. Network shows have a pressure of time and space that is completely different.

As movies and TV projects come up, they go out to the agents and we just go out and audition for them.

And sometimes it's fun to be the guy who just really enjoys it, like the guy I'm playing now on The Cape. He's more that. He's much more flashy and debonaire and devil may care-ish. He just loves doing bad in the world. That's real fun to do.

The acting in Downton Abbey has been consistently excellent across the board.