“I’m very in love with the fact that the camera is revolted by acting and loves behaviour.”

When Attenborough asked me to do Gandhi it was almost like stepping off one boat and stepping on to another, even though both boats are going at 60 miles per hour.

There’s so much crap talked about acting.

I think that most actors, and they’re a very strange lot actors, very strange people, but I think that they attempt to keep in touch with the child.

There is so much to do on a film set. It is an extraordinarily invigorating and wonderful place to be, when things are running well.

I think I’m more bonded, emotionally and in a craft sense, to films that tell extraordinary stories about extraordinary destinies.

Family is family over the internet, over Skype, over the telephone. Love is love. You don’t have to actually go through some ritual to prove that you love somebody.

The camera does not like acting. The camera is only interested in filming behaviour. So you damn well learn your lines until you know them inside out, while standing on your head!

As an actor there’s no autonomy, unless you’re prepared to risk the possibility of starving.

I try and reduce myself to an almost blank slate and hope to God that I am creative.

You need particular note or rhythm in the symphony to be that minor key, or that sharp key or major chord. In musical terms, I try to hit the right note. But not alter the score of the music, just emphasize the note correctly.

I’m so dependent on reacting to the other actors on the set, and to the director. I’m very responsive. I react. And I treasure the energy that reaction gives.

Filming is so much to do with rhythm, as is music, and if it isn’t there then you know in the end nobody can save it really, they can’t.

I was fortunate as a young actor, to go straight to the RSC, where I learned that being an actor can bring with it wonderful responsibilities.

You want to know what I want? I’ll tell you what I want. I want back what Bobby Fischer took with him when he disappeared.

If it’s a really well written villain, he probably has more layers than the archetypal good person. So that would be very attractive to an actor. No one chooses to be a villain; it’s usually a reaction to something else.

With narration, you have to be very accurate with your voice. It’s a good exercise to do.

Acting, music, painting… it’s very subjective. So what I might think is a great actor, you might think is not a very good actor at all.

The mug is a tool. My ace in the hole. To have looks is the bonus on top of what motivates me to be an actor. Not to realize they’re an asset would be counterproductive to the cause; they serve the common good.

In the right situation, acting on television can be extraordinarily satisfying creatively. But that’s incredibly rare. Otherwise, it can be like working in a really remunerative coal mine. That’s the down side.

Acting is really only part of my life. I’m addicted to it.

I’m a big believer in that old cliché of thinking globally and acting locally.

Acting is a different discipline. On stage I’m free to say what I please. But the change is very good for ya.

I-just-got-off-the-bus-and-I’m-really-excited-and-ambitious-and-I-took-an-acting-class-in-Des-Moines-and-I-know-I-really-need-an-agent-and-I-want-one-NOW

I’m a standup comedian who gets to act. I’m never going to not do standup. I love doing it and when I go through periods where I’m doing a lot of acting work, I still do standup.