What interests Sam Mendes are characters and relationships, and he was a genius at giving you the freedom to create the type of character you want, and also to explore and have fun with your fellow actors. For him, characters and relationships are really the heartbeat of the film, and then the action is the backdrop. By developing the characters, he makes you care that much more about the action and going on a journey with the characters.

I am always interested in affecting people in some way, making them think about particular areas of history that they have never thought about or that they may have thought about in one way and then changing their view.

What interests Sam Mendes are characters and relationships, and he was a genius at giving you the freedom to create the type of character you want, and also to explore and have fun with your fellow actors. For him, characters and relationships are really the heartbeat of the film, and then the action is the backdrop. By developing the characters, he makes you care that much more about the action and going on a journey with the characters.

I like to believe that we all pray to the same god.

In some ways, except that in that movie [Skyfall] I was mostly screaming and running away from the bad guys, whereas in this one I'm generally jumping into the action and fighting with them. So, yeah, it was somewhat similar, but also very different.

When I started out in the profession, it was definitely about proving that I was worthy, but after achieving a certain amount of success, I realized I didn't have to prove anything to anybody.

I really enjoyed working with Daniel [Craig], because he's a brilliant actor at the top of his game. That gave me an opportunity to learn from the best, which is what you're always looking for as a performer in order to grow and get better at your craft. It was also great because he was so nice and incredibly supportive, because it really was an intimidating experience for me. He sort of held my hand and said, "We're in this together and we'll get through it together." And he did look after me.