If youre serious about what youre doing, youve got to keep your head and follow your instinct. Maybe you wont reach the same dizzy heights as others, but you will get something back.
I've never taken myself too seriously, I'm not into that.
Some kids are good at math, some kids can run, and acting was an interest of mine. Because I knew you could do it for a living I decided, that's what I'm going to do.
I really wouldn't want to live in America. I found New York claustrophobic and dirty. I missed England when I was there, simple things like smells and the British sense of humor.
I'd go anywhere to work, so long as it's worth it.
I consider myself really lucky and I always have done. My approach is that if I know I'm relaxed and happy, then I will do my best work.
The whole point of being an actor is to get satisfaction out of a role -- unless you're just vain about celebrity. You're always looking for the one thing that will surprise you.
You're trying to bring a character to an audience, and tell stories. That's what we're all trying do.
I dont think any actor has the luxury of knowing exactly what scripts are going to turn out well and what ones arent. It would be wonderful to have that particular skill, and maybe people like Tom Cruise have it more than most, but you go into each project hoping that a good, if not great, film will come out the other end.
I'm a pretty happy person, to be honest with you.
When you're playing a character, you don't really want to have an opinion about where you're going to end up. Otherwise, you can't really stay in the moment and in your character.
I like to play different types roles, but I'd like to do a comedy next.
I don't want to talk about the specifics of other people's performances compared with my own. I'd never do that.
For me, there are two different things that make Sherlock Sherlock. One is, you know, within the books: obviously he's a genius with an attention to detail, his ravenous hunger for all aspects of knowledge that might feed into his work. But the major thing that makes him Sherlock is his relationship with Watson - their friendship. For me, that, I guess, is the biggest side, the more interesting side than the genius.
I think Danny Boyle's got it in his head that we all still look too young (to do a 'Trainspotting' sequel.) But, I mean, I don't look like anyone I play, anyways, so I don't really know where that comes from. Because, you know, you change yourself for the roles. I'm actually not Scottish, either!
I always know I can die at any moment.
When you're shooting 20-odd episodes in a season, the last thing you want is for each script to be the same tone.
Vampires are immortal, you can do whatever you want, and get away with it. And there's the seduction part of course, sex is a big part of the vampire thing.
I used a bike in London and that's it. I learnt a lot about biking, and really got into. Now I cycle regularly.
I spent a couple of months just riding a bike doing my own training in the streets.
Being part of 'Natural Nylon' is a great way to have an influence on the films that get out there. I love films and it gives me an input.
Some people can handle fame, some can't.
Computers creating art is an upsetting concept mostly because of what it means about humans.
New York and LA are both great places to visit, but I wouldn't want to live in either of them now. I find New York extremely claustrophobic and dirty. LA is quite a nice place. But there's no hustle and bustle, no street life.
Chess is one thing, but if we get to the point computers can best humans in the arts-those splendid, millennia-old expressions of the heart and soul of human existence-then why bother existing? to produce human art a computer would have to find, feel, absorb reality to the point it is overcome, to the point it sobs for release. A computer perhaps could replicate every possibility but could never transfer the energy art requires to exist in the first place.
