The writing is the springboard for your intuitive stuff and then you see, maybe a colour of what you want to achieve. Then you bring in the technique you've learnt. But when you're on film, you're not always in control of that. That's what makes me believe in a kind of collective unconscious, a sort of experience you draw on.

I hope that you walk around the corner and you get very surprised.

You cant please all the people all the time.

My phrase has always been that I am looking for the versatility of theatre in film. I think I have been quite lucky in that so far.

Insecurity, commonly regarded as a weakness in normal people, is the basic tool of the actor's trade.

I like people to be surprised by the turn of events. I don't want things just to be pat and formulaic. If there's some sort of internal combustion in the character or a desire to change the way things are going, that makes for conflict, which is the essence of drama.

London keeps me grounded. We don't get praised every time we open our gobs there.