It's such a pleasant surprise when you come on set and you find someone in charge like Ken Branagh or James Ivory. You know that you're going to do a day's work and at the end of it, it's going to be good.
Jonathan Demme is a very sharp editor of his movies.
I don't know why they gave me a knighthood - though it's very nice of them - but I only ever use the title in the U.S. The Americans insist on it and get offended if I don't.
For me, time is the greatest mystery of all. The fact is that we're dreaming all the time. That's what really gets me. We have a fathomless lake of unconsciousness just beneath our skulls.
I worked with Lawrence Olivier some years ago. He was a great mentor.
I am not very good with relationships. With anyone. I can't be locked up with anyone for too long.
I don't have many friends; I'm very much a loner. As a child I was very isolated, and I've never been really close to anyone.
I love life because what more is there?
I am able to play monsters well. I understand monsters. I understand madmen.
I spent two years in the military service, then I trudged around in repertory for quite a while. I somehow wound up at the National Theatre, though, and then I was definitely on my way.
People forget that Mozart wrote for commissions. There's a thing in psychology where they think if it's popular, it can't be serious.
I don't believe in nepotism. I don't much like the idea of parents who interfere.
It was a challenge, to work with Oliver Stone.
Acting is just a process of relaxation, actually. Knowing the text so well and trusting that the instinct and the subconscious mind, whatever you want to call it, is going to take over.
I love roller coasters. I don't get a chance often, but I've gone to Magic Mountain and gone on the rides. I love roller coasters.
I tried acting, liked it, and stuck with it. I saw it as the way I would keep that promise to myself of getting back at those who had made my school life a misery.
I'm interested in the dream and subconscious mind, the peculiar dream-like quality of our lives, sometime nightmare quality of our lives.
I worked with Steven Spielberg on Amistad... he seemed so very secure in himself that he let me do things.
I'm a pretty tough guy, you know. I'm a pretty hard man. I've got a lot of compassion, but I don't waste time with people.
My father wasn't a cruel man. And I loved him. But he was a pretty tough character. His own father was even tougher - one of those Victorians, hard as iron - but my dad was tough enough.
