The decision to do it [play Maigret] was related to the fact that the character is a very ordinary man, and generally speaking I haven't played very many ordinary men.

The older you get, the more you realise how happenstance... has helped to determine your path through life.

[Georges] Simenon could be very brave like that. You never quite know what you're going to get or how the story's going to be told.

I tend to play rather odd men. People that are slightly odd or eccentric, or have a more particular attitude to life.

Mr. Bean is at his best when he is not using words, but I am equally at home in both verbal and nonverbal expression.

When you play a serious role, as far as I'm concerned, I feel I'm using exactly the same skills, whatever they are, to play the role as you do with something more obviously comic. It's slightly different muscles, but the same skill set.

Your services might be as useful as a barbershop on the steps of a guillotine.