One of the benefits of being a mature well-educated woman is that you're not afraid of expletives. And you have no fear to put a fool in his place. That's the power of language and experience. You can learn a lot from Shakespeare.

I played Iris Murdoch, who had not long died, and I felt the responsibility very heavy on my shoulders.

I don't think that care homes are all rotten old places that ought to be shut down.

I have no control over a film. I don't know what will be left on the cutting floor.

It takes courage to recognize the real as opposed to the convenient.

Everything, every part that you approach has to be somehow rooted in yourself. You have to somehow root everything so that it's not just words coming out of you.

I like to push myself beyond the limit every now and again.