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 remember being on Atonement and it felt very right to be there. There was so much excitement every day. I remember very vividly how it felt to be a child on a film set, and that is actually really important to hold on to for as long as you continue to make films.

Everyone thinks I'm ethereal. But I'm not like that, you know. I'm not ethereal. Well, I might have a little bit of that quality to me, that 'old soul' thing, but I'm not ethereal.

If I'm in the middle of a take and I start to think about what I'm doing, I just mess up and I have to stop and so I find that for me, you really need to trust your instinct.

It's too distracting to read about yourself. You want to be perfect and you want everyone to love you, and that's never going to happen.

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.

I think if my child died I would prefer it if I were dead.