“One of the things that is assumed about actors is that they are extrovert, which is almost never the case, in my experience.”

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.

I got briefly mistaken for someone who might be good in bed, which was very, very good.

If I ruled the world, every woman would have a Chanel suit in her wardrobe.

I don’t want to associate myself with any specific group of politicians.

I do think 3D has seriously improved, since I was a boy. It’s fabulous.

When I was a young actress, I was called in just to do my part, and I didn’t have any say or weight as far as any decisions go. But today, having worked as a producer and also having lived a little, I feel like I’ve found my voice more. I’m sure that it has influenced me as an actor and it will continue to do so.

Some actors come to the set ready to do their parts a certain way.

I’m an actor, and everything about me – the way I perceive things, the way I have seen the world – has been in relation to characters and how I would want to play something or not play it.

Actors don’t act, we’re just being in a different circumstance and scenario.

Being a good actor isn’t easy. Being a man is even harder. I want to be both before I’m done.

I consider myself a blue-collar actor, just chugging away.

I want to span different genres. I want to be able to transform. I want to be able to be sexy, and funny, and quirky, and all the other things that I am. And I feel that the best way that I can achieve that is by producing.

I think sometimes you have to see a physical manifestation of your dream. Otherwise you have to hope, pray and try to conjure something in your mind to feel like it’s possible.