Acting is a freelance career... you never stop having to prove yourself and fight for work.
I'd always had a big thing for the '60s.
Around the time of 'The Lord of the Rings,' it was a shock to me just how big it is to be on that kind of media juggernaut. It was a big thing and the scrutiny was shocking.
Writers would hate me saying this, and I love words, but I have to say that cinema exists, on one level, for the power of the big image and what that image does.
I hate being pigeon-holed into anything. To me, the best thing is when the next job comes and is completely different to the one that I just had.
I'm so fair that I didn't go in the sun as a child. When all my friends were on the beach, I was going to ballet. The teachers there didn't like you going in the sun, so I never did.
I like working intensely, then going away and thinking about it, working out why it didn't work and then coming back to it. It makes the work richer, I think.
I have plenty to look forward to, I'm sure.
If there is a book that the script came from you have to read it, you have to see what you can get out of it: mood, back story and things that may not even be in the film. They kick off your imagination and broaden the character, I think.
With TV, the most important thing is just to get people to turn it on.
The talent of the people in Brazil was extraordinary. I thought all of the hair and make-up was really fantastic. The aesthetic there is really something to behold. They just have such a great sense of taste.
You are being hit with tabloid-journalism bi-lines of what you are doing because you have suddenly become a star.
It could be a stupid thing to say, but people should realize that it is easy to get concerned about yourself and to lose contact.
It's a career that's enticing because you go on stage, for example, and people clap. You get that affirmation, but you can't go into acting for that because it's really your own self-belief that's going to get you through.
I think you go through a period as a teenager of being quite cool and unaffected by things.
I've made my peace with being in the spotlight, definitely.
Everyone says you should get a photo taken of yourself while you're pregnant. I've got a film [War of the Worlds]. It'll be nice for my daughter, too, to look at one day. She was in it.
Every director is completely different.
Whenever I mention Greg Kinnear's name to anyone, they always say, "Oh, love him!" He's a really terrific actor, and very funny.
I think sometimes people haven't really quite worked out how to peg me, or exactly what it is that I do. In that way, I feel lucky that I can get to play different things because they haven't quite decided what I am.
It is hard sometimes to see how other actors are working when you are working with them.
Young actors are serious about their work and don't take any time out from it. I'm very serious about my work; there are probably only two films I've done where I had a really good time.
As an actor, I would call it a role where you get to stretch out a bit.
Some scripts you read and say, 'I've just got to do this' and you find a way of making it work. Some things you turn down because of the impact on family.
Theres such big pressure on people who are incredibly famous, on those who have people sitting outside their front door and taking photos every time they move.
