I never bring a role home with me. The moment they say, 'It's a wrap,' it's gone completely. I'm a totally ruthless professional, and life is my family, not my work.

I was a repertory actor, which meant that I did a play every week. I was a different character every week; for a year, I was doing 40 or 50 characters.

Acting is not a competition; everything must be done for the good of the film or else everybody loses.

You don't sacrifice your individuality; you sacrifice a lot of freedom.

I never regret anything. I always said that when I'm old, I want to be sitting there regretting the things that I did and not the things that I didn't do; and now I'm old, and I don't regret anything! I had fun. I had fun, and I'm still having it.

Use the difficulties - if you can't avoid them

We can only use British actors because everybody's got to talk exactly the same.