I didn't want to be a slave to any passion anymore. I gave up card playing altogether, even bridge and gambling - more or less. It took me a few years to get out of it.

I decided I didn't want to be a slave to any passion any more except for my work, i had too many passions - bridge, horses, gambling. I want to live a different kind of life, be with my family more because I didn't give them enough time.

He read his mind. He's a strange sort of man, isn't he? It's not just the advice and the wisdom that he has.

There are lots of wonderful old Italian actors. You don't need to take an Egyptian to play an Italian actor.

Working gets in the way of living.

I want to live every moment totally and intensely. Even when I'm giving an interview or talking to people, that's all that I'm thinking about.

This is one of the factors that also made me very much want to make this film, apart from the fact that I loved it. If the boy hadn't been Jewish and the man hadn't been Muslim, it wouldn't have made any difference to the film. I don't think it's relevant, really.