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

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 would rather do many small roles on TV, stage or film than one blockbuster that made me rich but had no acting.

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.

If I don't believe in a role, I can't pull it off.

I'm so boring that press kind of leave me alone now. People will believe what they want to believe anyway.

And there's no way I'm going to do Dame Edna.