It's quite a dangerous career move to go wilfully on making films that may not find a distributor.

I think an actor is very like a sportsman. You have periods where you're in terrific form. Everything you touch seems to work, and come right. And other times, when you're working really hard, it's okay, but it isn't scintillating.

It's amazing how quickly human beings adapt, isn't it? It was such a great crew, and David [Lynch] was wonderful to work with [on 'The Elephant Man']. It was a very thrilling time, actually.

Be true to what you want to say, or whatever style it is that you've chosen or genre you've chosen. Do it well! My criteria always has been that the piece must stand the chance of succeeding on the level it's intended to succeed on.

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

If I hadn't been a part of [Harry Potter] I would have been deeply upset.

The image onscreen takes you forward, it's the driving force of the piece and it's also the information that you're given.