“Keats himself spoke about how Shakespeare was capable of erasing himself completely from the characters he had created. As an actor, that is what I’m trying to do.”

I find it really hard to say anything coherent or interesting about the work I do.

I don’t think anyone can walk through the world in a state of vulnerability all the time, can they?

One of the things I find very difficult about theatre is the repetition – that something can slide away from your original intentions.

I’ve been out to LA a couple of times but, over there, the Grenouille in me always comes to the surface. I feel completely terrified, totally flummoxed, like I don’t understand what the hell is going on. I’ve no desire at all to go back there.

I’ve gone on workout regimes, but I seem to have a system that is very resistant to changing.

Even today, England is a very repressed, repressive country, and there’s pressure to be kind of a certain way, so people do things that ultimately make them sad.

I love the characters I’ve had the opportunity to play.

What I notice about people who are gifted in filmmaking is that they’re great thinkers. They engage with big ideas and they engage with people.

I would have loved to have been a painter or a sculptor. I’m still fascinated by those things.

I am a typical Libran. I tend to see two sides of everything.

I’d like to have a go at directing.

When you have a character to work with, you carry them around in a strange way – they make you look at the world in a different way.

The criminal justice system, like any system designed by human beings, clearly has its flaws.

We are so mired in the complexity of our reactions to other people that when you come across someone who is asocial, there is a simplicity that is refreshing.

Filmmakers tell stories to explore human nature, which is always a flawed thing.

My intuition comes up with better stuff than my head, I think.

I love theatre, and you learn too much as an actor and enjoy too much of it not to want to go back a lot.

Even the greatest actors have had dry spells where they’ve wondered if they were going to work again.

As an actor, to be part of that story’s [Marvel univerce ] terrific. I’ve enjoyed it so much as a fan and now I’m getting to have a go myself.

I find that most of us actors can’t stand ourselves in any form.

I like getting carried away by what is happening and then decide each scene based on the actors, the set and the light.

One of the best things about being an actor is that it’s a meritocracy.

We all want to escape our circumstances, don’t we? Especially if you are an actor.

I have great admiration for athletes. They are just like actors in a lot of ways. They have tremendous pressures and conflicts. They have to compete, and they can’t stay home just because they have a head cold.