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.

At first glance, you read something on the page and it can seem one way, and you can have your decisions before you wind up on set about what that set is supposed to mean, but until you're actually there doing them, there's really no way to understand it.

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.

Like everything, personal relationships and all that stuff is sort of put on ice while you go off to your location for five or six months. So, do I feel more settled in my life and in my work? Absolutely, yeah.

I spent a long time in art school so I can really draw. I'll doodle and suddenly I'll find the beginning of the movie in one picture. Usually, I start my stuff on the telephone. Right by the telephone I've got a book of doodles. When I'm on the phone, I'll be doing a drawing eventually.

I figure life's a gift and I don't intend on wasting it. You don't know what hand your gonna get dealt next. You learn to take life as it comes at you... to make each day count.

Some people don't get it when I'm being sarcastic.