I think there should be laughs in everything. Sometimes, it's a slammed door, a pie in the face or just a recognition of our frailties..

And it's a human need to be told stories. The more we're governed by idiots and have no control over our destinies, the more we need to tell stories ….

Do you know that moment when you paint a landscape as a child and, when you're maybe under seven or something, the sky is just a blue stripe across t….

There's a voice inside you that tells you what you should do..

I have every sympathy for writers. It's a mystery to me what they do. I can edit. I can cross out and say, 'I'm not saying that' or, 'How about we mo….

I don't play villains, I play very interesting people.

I'm a lot less serious than people think, it's probably because the way my face is put together..

I mean, language fascinates me anyway, and different words have different energies and you can change the whole drive of a sentence..

We're dead as a species if we don't tell stories, because then we don't know who we are..

Give me a window and I'll stare out it..

If only life could be a little more tender and art a little more robust..

I do take my work seriously and the way to do that is not to take yourself too seriously..

Acting is mostly about listening. If you just focus in on what the other person is saying, acting takes care of itself to quite a large extent..

I've never been able to plan my life. I just lurch from indecision to indecision..

All I want to see from an actor is the intensity and accuracy of their listening..

I think there's some connection between absolute discipline and absolute freedom..

That's it then. Cancel the kitchen scraps for lepers and orphans, no more merciful beheadings, and call off Christmas..

Actors are agents of change. A film, a piece of theater, a piece of music, or a book can make a difference. It can change the world..

I suppose with any good writing and interesting characters, you can have that awfully overused word [...] - a jouuuuuurney..

Three children have become adults since a phone call with Jo Rowling, containing one small clue, persuaded me that there was more to Snape than an un….

Talent is an accident of genes - and a responsibility..