We're all outsiders in a way. We're all alone and can become very lonely
It's a real pleasure to go to work when you're in the most extraordinary surroundings, and working with people who are young and interested and creatively keen.
Film has a tendency to be limiting in some way and it shouldn't be. It's a form that can be explored and changed.
I was on top of Keanu Reeves, he was on his back and I was on my trunk, and I was breathing down his neck for hours and hours. It was... very erotic.
Never send a human to do a machine's job.
Having agreed to play Elrond, I realized how much had to be worked out about this character: the idea of portraying someone who is immortal, for one thing; plus the fact he is noble, wise, powerful, good - and beautiful! I began to think that he was altogether impossible to play!
When you're a kid you have this sense of wonder and wholeness and a strong sense of your own identity.
People are more likely to pass me on the street without recognizing me, and that's good.
Being in the woods at night is a beautiful thing.
As human beings, of course, we're all compromised and complex and contradictory and if a screenplay can express those contradictions within a character and if there's room for me to express them, that's a part I'd love to play, so much more than a character who is heroic and one-dimensional.
I think when your image becomes so big that it's hard for a viewer to see a character, then I think you're in danger as an actor of being unable to perform what you should be doing.
I keep thinking I should get a phone, because everyone's got one and it becomes increasingly difficult to exist in a society where everyone else has moved ahead and you haven't.
I do feel like I'm not entirely an insider.
I think I'm much less self confident today. I actually went through a quite painful period because of that thinking that I was completely hopeless. But I think that's something that we all go through at various times of our lives and it was quite a sustained thing with me.
As an actor, to do all sorts of different films is great.
It's great to blow the image that people have of me out of the water.
I'm always trepidatious and excited about what I do. I wouldn't choose to do something, unless I am really excited about it.
To me acting originally became an extension of game playing.
I don't think I'll ever escape the fact that I don't belong anywhere in particular. I've often dreamed about going back to Nigeria, but that's a very romantic notion. It's a hideous country to go to in reality.
The great thing about stage is that you have a live audience.
In a real fight, there ain't no time and you've got to use your wits. If someone were threatening the life of my child, then I'd be a good fighter. If somebody just wanted to steal my wallet, well, maybe I wouldn't worry about it so much.
I generally find an affinity with a lot of the people I play and I suppose if I didn't feel an affinity for them then they wouldn't be particularly good performances.
As an actor, to play someone who's at war with himself, that's so interesting.
It's kind of chased away a few demons for me and, um, it's educated me a little bit more.
One of the positive aspects from my point of view in terms of lifestyle doing film is that I can say "Well, I'm now going to have three months where I'm just going to hang out and be with the family".
