- When it comes to acting, it is very limiting to be English. It was 'Bring on the posh!' All the parts I was being offered involved my accent or someone with money and title.
- [on playing Charles Ryder in Brideshead Revisited (2008)] It was hard without the voiceover, when you've got no words, it's difficult to be Mr Charm. I saw Charles Ryder as the loneliest person in the whole world. He had a loveless childhood growing up with no mother and a distant father - and who of us knows our father, anyway? Also, I'm no one, so just the fact that I was offered the part of Ryder is amazing.
- I don't think I know enough about acting to direct. You need to be a slight megalomaniac, not where you want to take over the world, but where you want to make every single decision and the buck stops with you. It's an awful lot of stress.
- Golf courses are beautiful, it's good for the soul and it gets out the anger... well, if you don't care about the score then you won't have a heart attack.
- I'm not posh, not in the slightest. My parents spent some money on my education, but I wasn't born to the purple.
- If I lived in L.A., I'd be schizophrenic after a week.
- I'm always pretty tense about everything when it comes to work.
- You spend some time raising a child in London, carrying it around on one side of your body - it puts your back out!
- I've thought about writing, but it hasn't happened yet. It's like schoolwork - you start doing your revisions two nights before you're compelled to turn it in.
- Some actors go, 'Bing!' and suddenly they're being paid huge sums. Me, I seem to get screwed every time.
- I like the fact that Hogan's shoes all have this sporty sole that is great even for an older man with a bad back like me.
- Making a film is very hard work, and you live or die by the sword just a little bit every time you do it, but I wouldn't chuck it in.
- My dad was a geologist and my mum was a nurse who directed amateur theatrics.
- My dream is to one day own a country house on the shore in England, have gotten married, wipe some debt off and get a few more good films.
- I'm very much a jobbing actor who's still trying to find a place to rent down the road.
- I'll tell you what, it doesn't get more beautiful than the west of Ireland. Connemara and County Derry are quite stunning, really.
- On Benedict Cumberbatch: I'm so proud of Ben. I've known him for such a long time and the last couple of years he's really come to the forefront. Which stops him from being on my sofa going, "God, my career's not going anywhere." And now it's impossible for him to walk down the streets.
- When you've got a new family, any kind of security you can have is great.
- I wouldn't say I'm drawn to dark roles, and it's not like I pick and choose.
- When you see a finished film, it's very rare that it exceeds your expectations.
- It's not easy when you've got kids. You have to make some pretty unselfish decisions. I've been lucky. I'm about to finish The Good Wife (2009) and Downton Abbey (2010) we'll see what happens.
- [Which of your performances has left a lasting mark on you?] You mean scarred me for life? There are a few journalists who've stabbed at my heart! I mean, really, I move on pretty quickly. You do a job and then it's the next thing. I don't have much time to dwell now that I've got two kids. It's like, The sailor outfit's off now, can you just come back to being Dad? You're like, Yep! No problem.
- [Please complete the sentence... I could not live without...] Alcohol, cigarettes, fishing and golf.
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