There's no such thing as an actor giving positive criticism to a director. The minute you say 'Don't you think it would look nicer', that director's going to hate your guts. Particularly if it's a good idea.

I find the world more absurd now than I did when I was a kid.

I don't like the way some actors, when playing a nasty character, will try to grab hold of something good about them.

When things are really painful, I turn it into comedy.

I know virtually no one of my age who can remember a hug, or a smile from their father, or a 'Let's go play football.'

Every film I've ever worked on, and that includes 'Braveheart' and 'Trainspotting,' I've always witnessed a director having a breakdown. Every director will have a day, without exception, where they just can't do it anymore, they don't know what to say to their cameraman, their cast. It's the sign of real, physical exhaustion.

It's not so much that I want to direct but that I have to. When I write something it terrifies me that if I give it to someone else and it doesn't turn out as it could have done, I'd feel as if I'd orphaned my baby.