American actors are all muscular, tanned, white teeth and they have this indestructible confidence. We British are all... Dare I say it? Pessimistic.

As a child I'd get given parts as a tree.

Also I don't want to refer to myself as Maximilian. You'd have to win an Oscar or become mind-numbingly wealthy or hit 50. It's like smoking a cigar, you know what I mean? You can't be a young guy and do it.

It's a mistake to dwell too much on the consequences of a piece of work that you're making.

I want to have a career that lasts 60 years, not six.

In fact, when I met Kit Harington first, he was pretty much feeling how I'm feeling today - at a photo shoot and you've had no sleep. He was just a really nice, English, down-to-earth guy. No pretense, nothing.

I think he [King Edward] was a modernizer who was a new thinker. The things he intended to do - unify the country, expand it all from coast to coast - were very modern and radical in those days. Also, the fact that he married who he did and that he managed to deal with the consequences and ramifications of that marriage and stay on the throne until the day he died, that shows skill.