[James Bond's qualities of] self-containment, his powers of decision, his ability to carry on through till the end and to survive ... I like to think I acquired them before Bond.

More than anything else, I'd like to be an old man with a good face, like Hitchcock or Picasso.

I'm fed up with the idiots... the ever-widening gap between people who know how to make movies and the people who green-light the movies.

There's a lot of fantasy about what Scotland is, and the shortbread tins and that sort of thing.

Your background and environment is with you for life. No question about that.

My view is that to get anywhere in life you have to be anti-social, otherwise you'll end up being devoured. I've never been particularly social, anyway, but if I've ever been rude, fifty per cent of it has usually been provoked by other people's attitudes. Though I do admit, like most Celts, I'm moody. It's fine until people try to cheer you up with gems like, 'snap out of it' or 'Come on, now'.

But I wouldn't call myself sadistic.