I try and reduce myself to an almost blank slate and hope to God that I am creative. |
I try not to make it easy for myself. I try very hard to stay in the moment. I'm not an actor who psyches himself up for a take. I do the opposite. I actually try and reduce, reduce, reduce, reduce, reduce and get to what I call a flat line or a zero. |
I use my intuition, my imagination, my voice and my body. That is really what actors do. There is a lot of nonsense talked about acting, but really all we do is use our voice, our body, our imaginations to create portraits about people so that you and the audience can be pulled into beautiful stories. |
I was very lazy in the sixth form at school, I wasn't motivated properly, I handled it very badly and I was not given a place at university to study medicine. |
I wasn't particularly strong in the dramatic society, the drama group. I left Manchester Grammar School with abysmal A-level results. I then had a year's hiatus where I didn't know what to do at all. |
I would like to make it known, on this program, loud and clear, that I would absolutely embrace with all five of my arms being a Bond villain. |
I'm a hopping maniac, and if I didn't have that disciplined channel to pour this maniacal energy into, I'd probably go berserk. |
I'm convinced that had I not changed my name, I don't think I would have had quite the same career curve that I eventually had. |
I'm holding a mirror to the audience and telling them there is a violent person in all of us. |
I've met holocaust survivor victims, through other films, and I know what survivor guilt is like. |
I've never had to turn my hand to anything for monetary gain, other than pretending to be somebody else. I'm deeply fortunate. |
If I were to play somebody who ran a fish and chip shop, I would not work in a fish and chip shop for three months. Staring at chips is not going to help me in my performance. |
If people are generous with their information, then the actor can use that information lovingly and respectfully. |
If the director wishes to print it, then you have a series of choices, maybe millions of choices within that minute-and-a-half, or 80 seconds, or 2 minutes or however long or short the take is, you have all those choices committed to celluloid. I find that absolutely thrilling. |
If we hit the collective nerve of the audience on that night, that they would be standing up and rushing towards the stage to hug us. |