I can't really see how anybody could be particularly optimistic about the future in general because we are destroying the planet.

Resolve was never stronger than in the morning, after the night, when it was never weaker

The way an actor is trained doesn't ultimately have much bearing on my work. I'm interested in the actor as artist.

He's [Constable] a great painter as far as it goes, but I don't think he's remotely interesting. Not really. It's very pretty and it's very thorough, but it's not evocative, it's not dramatic, it doesn't do what Beethoven does - it doesn't shake you down to the roots of your soul, which Turner does. Constable is just very nice, basically. And moving on to personality, Constable was a very dull character.

When it comes to thinking about how a character talks, there are literary and language considerations. For actors to be able to differentiate between themselves and the characters they are playing while at the same time remain in character and spontaneous requires a sophisticated combination of skills and spirit.

You can't make a movie about the artist without shooting outdoors.

It's an unhealthy habit to say that life is what you make of it, and if you want to be happy, then you can be happy. That's just rubbish, basically.