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Quotes
 I've
never been interested in playing good guys. I'm always attracted to
dangerous characters. Those roles are usually far more interesting and I
hold no fears about doing them. With my character in Croupier, you're
never really sure where he's coming from. He's not really a good guy or
a bad guy. But people generally aren't, are they?
The
sexiest part of the body is the eyes. Corny, but that's what I believe.
They're what connect us as human beings.
Theatre
uses a different energy. It's like going to the gym and having a
vigorous workout. But every few years is enough because I love filming.
I am a real film animal.
When
I was 10 or 11, I played the Artful Dodger in a school production of
'Oliver. From that point forward, I said I wanted to be an actor. Nobody
in my family took it seriously, but I saw no other path. I was a cocky
little kid. This one teacher said: 'You're a working-class kid from
Coventry. What do you know?'
For
several years I did have the Chancer label around my neck, but it's
never really worried me.
I
don't think you necessarily identify and believe in the motifs of the
character, but you have to want to play it and want to commit to the
lines.
I
just like to keep challenging myself, keep it varied. It's a craft, and
I'm constantly trying to learn and get better at it.
I
love to mix it up. I love to keep doing different things.
I
think I am more attracted to characters with a subtext, whatever that is
and they don't necessarily have to be virtuous, but they have to at
least be human.
I'm
not normally one to commit to a long-running series.
I'm
not the kind of actor who goes into exhaustive research for each role.
My
gardening skills are awful.
One
of the things I'm most proud of about my career is the fact I've managed
to keep options open.
Parenthood
and family come first for me, and when I'm not working I'm cool with the
Teletubbies.
The
sexiest part of the body is the eyes. That's what I believe.
You
go back to those films of the '40s and '50s and hear the dialogue, the
way the people played off each other, the wordplay. I think we've really
lost that in movies.
Theater
is like exercise. I feel it's healthy. But I don't love it as much as
movies. A bad experience in the theater can be so depressing. You've got
to do it every night, even if the production is not working.
The
lighter stuff has got to be really well written for me, or it just
doesn't get me going. There's something to play if there's conflict
going on. Whatever that conflict is, that's where drama is; if the
character is grappling with something you've got something to play,
there's layers to it. And when that isn't there it's ... less
interesting.
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