I think nobody since has written such extraordinary work as Shakespeare writes. The characters he writes are full of inconsistencies, which is a great human quality - I mean we're all very inconsistent in the way we behave.
Jeremy IronsI find what I call the [bleep] side of the industry very difficult. You won't see me at other peoples' premiers. I mean, I go to my own premiers because I have to help my film, but I don't enjoy that whole side of it. I don't enjoy celebrityhood. I love getting a seat in a restaurant. I love it when people say hi when I don't know them. I mean, that's fine, but apart from that, I like the elements of celebrityhood which make living in the world like living in your own village.
Jeremy IronsI constantly experience failure in that my work is never as good as I want it to be. So I live with failure.
Jeremy IronsThere are a group of people who are managing the world to their advantage and who just look to the rest of us as people who will buy their products and fund their salaries.
Jeremy IronsIt's just money; it's made up. Pieces of paper with pictures on it so we don't have to kill each other just to get something to eat.
Jeremy IronsI've always thought of characters like advent calendars. You have Christmas and you have all the little doors over the windows and every day you're allowed to open one more as it gets towards Christmas and you see more and more about what's inside that house.I remember as a kid being fascinated by that and I've always thought of my character as a little bit like that. I like to have secrets and slowly let those secrets out to the audience, sometimes never let them out, but let them see as you open the shutters, open and see a little bit more of a character.
Jeremy Irons