I've always loved painting, although I never show anyone what I've done. Mainly because I don't do it well. But it's like a form of visual diary for me. A way of fixing things in my mind.
It was good to learn so early. They're not going to be kind to you. You have to do it and get on, and then gulp down and get better.
The need for a global structure of control in the form of a world environment court is now more urgent than ever before.
I don't really want to retire. I intend to go on working as long as I can because I still have a huge amount of energy.
In the theatre you can change things ever so slightly; it's an organic thing. Whereas in film you only have that chance on the day, and you have no control over it at all.
There are very few things that surprise me.
People seem to have this idea that I've always been very ambitious. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The theater is the thing I love doing most.
Some things you know about, you know what the ingredients are - maybe not all of them. But it's up to you to put in the amount. It's up to the director to nag you until you get it right.
I once said to someone when I was playing Lady Macbeth and they said: "That's tricky, emotionally, what do you do about murdering your husband's cousin?" And there are, of course, things that aren't in your personal repertoire that you have to somehow understand by reading or watching other things and listening to other people talk about them.
I felt quite a responsibility when I played Elizabeth I but nobody here remembers her! And then I felt a responsibility when I played Queen Victoria but not many people remember her.
The secret of my success is my mother, who was from Dublin. All my relations are in Dublin or in the west, or as I found out, we went to Rostrevor in Northern Ireland to film and I got out, while they changed cars around, and this man said to me: "You know you have cousins in this town? And they're coming down to see you..." And so they did. I'm sorry we didn't go to a lot more places, so that I could find a lot more cousins. So, that was good. It's entirely because my father was also brought up in Dublin. So, that's my link.
I'd rather do a part because I want to, not because great things are expected of me.
And then it was working with Bob Hoskins, who I had never worked with before - except radio. It was like being given a wonderful meal - full of the things you love most.
I've figured out what to do so far, but it's always the next thing you come to where the man with the bucket of ice cold water is waiting - whoosh! in your face. That's why you work with directors who know what to tell you to do.
The Lord Chamberlin was censoring scripts when I first came into the theater.
I started off as a theatre designer, and by some extraordinary circumstance I saw something in Stratford-upon-Avon, and realized that that's the kind of design I want, but also that that's the kind of designer I'll never be.
I am so thrilled to be nominated for something I loved working on every single day.
I have no control over a film. I don't know what will be left on the cutting floor.
I couldn't be a one-woman show, since I wouldn't have anybody to bounce off from. Once you're out there, dribbling on, you have nobody to interrupt you. I love being part of a company, and telling a story.
I don`t like reading scripts very much. I like it better for someone to just explain to me what it is about this story.
Work certainly does help fill a void.
I would hate people to think bossy is all I can do.
I work out the other bits, too, but I need to know what I look like, very early on. And then it's like a template; I'll fill that person out. If I get that out of the way, then I'm all right.
Seriously, though, I think I never ceased to be grateful of the fact that I am able to do a job that I really love - I never got over that.
