“I applaud anything that can take a kid away from a PlayStation or a Gameboy. That is a miracle in itself.”

To be able to do this job in the first place you’ve got to have a bit of an ego.

The thing a drama school can’t give you is instinct. It can sharpen instinct but that can’t be taught, and you have to have intuition. It’s an essential ingredient.

The building of America has had its fair share of mistakes, but it’s a constitution that’s the jewel of democracy, the envy of many, and it’s the most generous nation in the world.

I’m still a member of the Empire! Although I sometimes feel like an American with a British accent – you get contaminated after so long.

Shakespeare doesn’t really write subtext, you play the subtext.

I’m not the best audience for that because I’m not a great science-fiction fan. I just never got off on space ships and space costumes, things like that.

I got obsessed with classical music, I got obsessed with Chopin, with playing the piano.

I think filmmaking should be a wonderfully free collaborative process, and it so very rarely is. I often see directors as jailers of my talent.

Change is vital to any actor. If you keep playing lead after lead, you’re really gonna dry up. Because all those vehicles wean you away from the truths of human behaviour.

I had a guitar when I was 6 or 7, a plastic guitar with the Beatles’ faces on it. It would be a collector’s item now. It would fetch a hefty sum, I imagine.

If one could have a wish, or an alternative life, I would’ve liked to have been John Lennon.

The great thing about Google is that you type in neuro-surgery and somehow you end up with Peter Sellers or watching Frank Sinatra. Google is a great resource.

I like celluloid, I like film, I like the way that when a movie is projected it sort of breathes a little in the gate. That’s the magic of it to me.

My favorite meal would have to be good old-fashioned eggs, over easy, with bacon. Many others, but you can’t beat that on a Sunday morning, especially with a cup of tea.

How do you remember all those lines? By forgetting everything else.

Wanting to be a good actor is not good enough. You must want to be a great actor. You just have to have that.

You always told me that I was the child with one foot out the door. But, did you ever consider that it was for my own safety?

When I was younger, I thought every kid was adopted because that’s all I’ve known. I have everything I need, so I never felt the need to have answers for what happened.

One day we will finally see that when we reject any person or group of people, we reject a part of our very selves. All are one. All are in. All are God’s beloved children with a place at the table.

A child’s world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement.

By suggestion and example, I believe children can be helped to hear the many voices about them. Take Time to listen and talk about the voices of the earth and what they mean-the majestic voice of thunder, the winds, the sound of surf or flowing streams.

Sometimes the child in one behaves a certain way and the rest of oneself follows behind, slowly shaking its head.

As a kid growing up, I was never like, ‘I want to go to the Olympics,’ so having to pass on 2012 because I was too young didn’t bother me at all.

As a kid, even I knew everything about my favourite cricketers. I used to know everything possible. Now I see kids knowing about me. It feels good.