Great acting is about listening to what they are saying ....not waiting to deliver your lines.

I started with the firm conviction that when I came to the end, I wanted to be regretting the things that I had done, not the things I hadn't.

I prefer to remake flops. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels was a remake of a flop, and The Quiet American is a remake of a flop.

I am often asked which of my films has come closest to my own ideal of performance, and I always answer, 'Educating Rita.'

The best research for playing a drunk is being a British actor for 20 years.

When you're a movie star and you're young, you are always playing someone who's a better fighter, a better lover, a better everything than you.

There are loads of black actors.You can't say: I'm going to vote for him, he's not very good but he's black, [so] I'll vote for him. You've got to give a good performance.