“When I do a play, it’s like agreeing to be ill for a couple of months.”

I’m not good at watching myself which I think is perfectly natural. I don’t give myself a hard time about it. I am the worst critic.

One of my great regrets, and I don’t have many, is that I spent too long putting people’s status and reputation ahead of their more important qualities.

I have never owned a computer. I am one of those weirdos. I’ve never needed a computer. I’m lucky that I have a job where I’m not required to use one.

If you ever see me in a social setting wearing any sort of sportswear, then you know I’m in crisis.

We are all made of air There’s stars in my eyes and there’s sun in my hair And I’m runnin’ away, it makes me feel better

The more laws that governments pass, the less individual freedom there is. Any student of history will tell you that. Totalitarian countries ban pretty much everything.

I never go on the net or the web, or whatever it’s called.

If you ask any actor “What single thing would make you really, really happy?” Among the top five things they’d say is not having to audition anymore.

All actors who have been around for a long time, which I have, and have been skint for long periods, which I have, find it difficult to turn down jobs. If I turn anything down my stomach turns over. I feel sick. It feels like gambling.

I’m crazy about James Brown. I’m crazy about soul music. And then the blues. Rhythm and blues.

The most difficult part, when you decide to make running a part of your life style, is the basic initial commitment.

The degree of notoriety I have is fine and easy. There’s nothing hysterical about it.

When people warned me there would be long periods out of work if I became an actor, I couldn’t keep a straight face because that was exactly what I had in mind.

One is that you legislate according to natural selection, the other is that you don’t. You have compassion, you try and help people. It’s a fundamental clash between two people who happen to love each other, which complicates everything.

I don’t normally watch films I’m in because I’m squeamish about that and it takes me quite a long time to recover and I have to go to work. I’m not being coy or cute, but it’s just true.

I’m probably the only person who actually remembers pirate radio.

If you’re away from your house for a month, by the time you come back there’s someone else living in it.

… it occurred to me that never again would he be seven years, one month and six days old, so we had better catch these moments while we can.

Research is a lifelong occupation so it’s hard to factor it in, but I reckon most books take 5 months from start to finish.

Always make sure you have your rent. At the end of the month, if you have to eat Ramen for a week because you won’t have your rent money.

I felt like I was homeless anyway, so the change in environment wasn’t that much of a big deal. I felt pretty much the same. After six months of living on the streets [in Camden], I started singing, busking.

I lived in Paris for six months when I was sixteen. It was a fend-for-yourself environment.

The risk that the economy has entered a substantial downturn appears to have diminished over the past month or so.

I find skydiving really hard. I broke my back while skydiving when I was in the military, and for 18 months all my nightmares were about falling.