I consider it an actor going to work with other actors. It's not a competitive sport, it's not to outact anybody else, sorta thing, you can be a bad actor but you don't outact anybody, you just bring your character as best as you can.

It is a tough business but if you get yourself in a situation like I, you can maintain a career over many years. That, to me, is a successful actor.

The way Shakespeare wrote Fallstaff is with a heightened language and everything. That's the genuis of having Ken Branagh here as well. Shakespeare doesn't require you to have a doctorate in his language or whatever to understand him. It just has to be directed and played right. It's all about scale and presence and getting these huge, epic stories across.

Blackbeard was larger than life. He was 6'4" in 1710. He was a colossus, and like a rock star walking into a bar. He was a tremendous commander, a great leader.

History is written by victors and, occasionally, sensationalist journalists. I mean that with the best respect.

I didn't want people to go out wanting to go tool up against the bad guys (and at impressionable ages). I said, don't shy away from the violence or pull back on this, commit to this.

For me, because I've had classical theater training, when people say, "Oh, my god, the play is amazing!," I'll never get to see it because I'm in it.