Quotes

You don’t step on stage to eat, you go there to be eaten.

Whatever character you play, remember they are always doing something. They are not just talking. They are alive; going through a drama in which they will go through some sort of dramatic human experience. Keywords: Alive and Experience. It is your job to make them become so. Anthing you do on stage or film has a direct relation to something you have experienced in one form or another in real life. Use your imagination to exaggerate or lessen that sensation. Then, disguise it in characterization and don’t forget to make lots and lots of mistakes, and look like a complete asshole. You’ll do fine. – acting tip on a movie or play.

And I like people. I like to know what you’re really up to. I’m a bit of a nosey busy body. Why do they do the things they do? Why are they prepared to do the things they do to get what they want? When? Where? Who? – on his nosiness.

I mean there I was. One moment in Wandsworth Police Station on the way to Wormwood Scrubs, looking at 14 years, to this! – on his career.

Thanks for all the wonderful paintings and drawings and writings. I am very honoured to have your support, and love you for the energy and the inspiring work and comments that you bring to the table. – to fans.

The character was like the Prince and the Pauper or more like Greystoke to me. He essentially has not had the same circumstances and experiences. Picard doesn’t have the same baggage that Shinzon carries. So, that was more freeing. He is essentially an orphan and an abused child, who becomes an emperor. There were moves that I had to play with, that did not have anything to do with Picard. The whole film is about why they are not similar. So, the relationship had a ground basis to work from. – on Shinzon, his character from “Nemesis.

My action figure is great! It’s big and bald. It’s very disturbing to look at a toy and see yourself. At the same time, it’s very cool. – on his Shinzon action figure.

[When asked by Simon Gage of "Attitude" magazine in a 2008 interview, "Have you ever had sexual relations with men?"] I’m an actor, for fuck’s sake. I’m an artist. I’ve played with anything and anyone. But I’m not into men sexually. I love the form and the physicality but the gay sex bit does nothing for me… To me it just doesn’t compute to me now that I’m in my 30s and it doesn’t do it for me and I’m done experimenting.

I love people. People are lovely creatures. I’m one myself [so] I love to see people happy.

I’m from East Sheen, I went to public school where I learned Latin at the age of nine, and certain expectations were made of me to go to St Paul’s, Oxbridge maybe, and all that kind of thing. And I failed systematically to meet the mark – who I am and what I should have been are two very different things.

[on working with Gary Oldman]  Gary Oldman is my hero, that’s it. When I went to drama school everybody used to quote him in all his films, you know State of Grace (1990) right through to Leon (1994) or whatever. And I’d sit there really quietly and think ‘No, no, you don’t know. I’m more of a Gary Oldman fan than you are.’ [laughs] When you do an impression of him, that’s sacrilege! So to work with him, for him to look me in the eye, talk to me…. acknowledge I exist! Cos I’m not star struck by people, but Gary just took the wind right out of me. I’m very lucky we had to re-shoot those scenes on the couch [in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)] because the first task that I did was just me watching him, because I was shocked to actually be working with him. Then for him to actually like me, and to work three times with him, cos we did Lawless (2012) afterwards. I remember saying “Would you look at the script, it’s really cool”, and he’s like “Yeah, sure. This is crazy, you know? This is a man that I’ve stolen everything that I’ve done from, like Bronson (2008) and Stuart: A Life Backwards (2007) (TV). That’s me trying to emulate what Gary’s done, and to work with him makes me feel like I don’t have any characters of my own. [laughs]