I was 12 and I remember every­thing. I mean, I had done two films before that. The first was actually with Amy Heckerling. It was so brilliant to work with her on my first film. Atonement was the third one I'd done, and I remember how it felt to arrive on set every day. I remember how it felt to get my wig off at the end of the day. I remember how hot it was.

I try as best as I can to have a normal life. People recognise you, of course, and that's very strange. But I sort of leave my working life behind when I go home. That's my other world.

I grew up my whole life in Ireland and obviously sound very, very Irish. I feel like it's just one of those things that just charms the socks off of people.

I think acting is something that is within you. It's a very natural thing for me. It comes from myself, really.

I did find New Zealand similar to Ireland. The people, obviously. I found that, ironically, although these two countries were very far away from each other, their humor was so similar and their outlook on things was quite similar as well.

When I can't get the character out of my head, and I'm in my bedroom and I start to actually act out the scenes that I've read in a script, I think okay, I really want to do this.

One of the things that would steer me away from a franchise is that I'm playing the same character all the time and I wouldn't want to be known for that.