I remember once when I told Lindsay Anderson at a party that acting was just a sophisticated way of playing cowboys and Indians he almost had a fit.

We're all far too afraid of being so arrogant to say "Either you can or you can't."

When you're really working well with a director then you can be as outrageous as you like and so can he. And there's no worry about it.

People say you never retire in this [film] business and I say, well, not until they retire you.

If I'm in theatre, cinema doesn't even cross my mind. Similarly when I'm making a film, theatre doesn't cross my mind.

I'm not interested in awards. I never have been. I don't think they are important. Don't get me wrong, if somebody gives me a prize, I thank them as gratefully as I know how, because it's very nice to be given a prize. But I don't think that awards ought to be sought. It encourages our business to be competitive in absolutely the wrong way. We're not sportsmen; we're not trying to come in first.

Anything which retains interest is optimistic. When the characters become disinterested, it's pessimistic. Does that make sense?