My only obligation is to keep myself and other people guessing.

I don't want to do anything that I'm not passionate about.

Look, how many stories have I broken? Hundreds. How many have proved to be untrue? There isn't one.

I've always thought Prince Charming in Cinderella was the most boring role; I'd rather be the Wicked Witch.

I'm keen to do as little or as much reading and watching as the director may advise, and often off that you kind of stem into other things that you find of influence, perhaps the things that you're watching. It's a good excuse to get to know a new profession, or a new approach, or a new era. It's about authenticity. It's about having the confidence to really feel that you're saturated and know the world you're about to step into and understand the person you're about to be.

It's interesting to see how people bring different things to them. I think it comes down to the universal appeal of the Holmes-Watson that they can keep being discovered in different ways.

[Tom] Wolfe's books offered a whole new world to step into, and whilst at times you could accuse him of being somewhat long-winded, he had an incredible quality of prose and a bravery of writing from the heart. He believed in being autobiographical at all times.