“A make-up artist I know polished her Oscar and it lost its lustre. But if you don't polish it, it doesn't tarnish.”

“I do always like to do things I haven't done before, so I'm always looking out for things in a different genre, or a different sort of character.”

“I haven't got a writer's discipline.”

“I like being able to go to the supermarket and go on the Tube and have an ordinary domestic life. I'd hate to have to protect myself. I'm quite lucky that I can carry on without any intrusions. I don't get given a hard time by anyone.”

“I like reflecting the culture I understand best, spotting the idiosyncrasies of British people and revealing them to an audience in a way that amuses is what I find fun.”

“I love a really good storyline.”

“I never was a great Thatcher fan, and it wasn't a sad day in my life when she resigned.”

“I see myself as a small 'l' liberal, but not coalition liberal, necessarily.”

“I think we all have a selfish gene which rises to the top, sometimes. But then we're also all capable of a sudden magnanimity.”

“If you're playing any real person, live or dead, you certainly have a responsibility to produce that reputation in some way.”

“I'm not that comfortable with actors receiving honours, partly because I think they ought to go to those who really help others.”

“In fact I'd like to go back and live in Shakespeare's London.”

“In Hollywood films everything is tidied up at the end with clean lines and clean character definitions. It's sort of unsatisfying.”

“In today's politics, it would be good to have politicians who are more upfront about what they felt and actually not trying to bend with every breeze. They're infuriating, all of them.”

“It's fatal to talk about acting. It sounds faintly ridiculous if you start analysing it.”

“It's funny how a film about a murderous old English toff can help you.”

“Oh, I think I've been entirely selfish with my career. I've done what I wanted to do, and not put myself out for anyone else particularly.”

“Other people have a much better idea of what I might do than I.”

“People smile at me as if they know me. I just smile back. They probably might know me.”

“The films I enjoy seeing are those that reveal lives I was unaware of... in different cultures or whatever.”

“The world would be a duller place without Moulin Rouge.”

“We've all got a black book of missed opportunities.”

“When you research someone, you actually get beyond your own preconceptions and become aware of the human being other than the image. You become empathetic and sympathetic in turn.”

“You can't be angsty all day or else it becomes a sort of pale angst.”