I lived in Hollywood and, ironically, I didn't know you could just go out and get an agent and go on auditions and try and become an actor, I thought it was like a Masonic thing, like a blood line you had to belong to – until I was 13. Then I realised what you had to do. It is the one thing I know I want to do for the rest of my life.

If a film is good, and I'm sort of able to sit there and absorb myself within that world. And get lost. That is a pretty powerful tool. And there's not many paintings out there, that make me want to stare at it for hours at a time, and wonder where I am!

I think it's much more interesting when people say, "I love being famous. I love the attention and getting laid and having people I respect admire me," than when they pretend it hasn't had an effect on them.

It does feel like the middle ground has fallen out. I'm only saying that from personal experience, saying, "I'd like to make that movie" and hearing, "Oh, they're not making those types of movies anymore."

It was closer to manual labor than shooting a film. I always think of something Michael Caton-Jones told me: 'Pain is temporary. Film is forever.'

Sam [Mendes] said he took advantage of the fact that Kate and I were so close for many years. He knew it was something he could harness in our performances, and we knew that too.

(Acting) certainly comes-100 percent-from the need to be loved. Any actor who says this isn't true is lying.