Indeed I regard the enduring support which I have received over the years from all sections of the community in Ballymena as being more than sufficient recognition for any success which I may have achieved as an actor.
I'm so touched that complete strangers will send me a script asking me to be in their film. That still amazes me - and sometimes for a lot of money too.
It is fun to explore these kick-butt characters.
Before 'Schindler's List,' I wouldn't have believed movies had a lot of power for social change.
I don't know if I'm a strict parent or a pushover.
I try to be a hard boiled sometimes. My kids see right through it. I'm acting. It's always, 'When I say you'll be back at 11, that means 11, not 11.15. Do you hear me!?' Then, 'Yeah, Dad.'
I love working with children.
The Irish Catholic side was married to the life of an actor and I found out acting could be a form of prayer.
Why would anyone ever tell anything personal to a journalist?
But, you know, sex is controversial, it just is and it always will be.
I'm a big believer in acts of kindness, no matter how small.
Yeah, well, I finally stopped smoking for good.
I have no desire to play King Lear or Hamlet. I never had a grand ambition. I just followed my nose.
Hollywood is throwing action movies at me.
Well, from an acting point of view, I bear no relation, I don't look like Alfred Kinsey at all, but I thought somewhere in my artist's soul, my actor's soul, I could capture something of the spirit of the man.
It's an extraordinary thing, this tiny little province of Northern Ireland, where carnage happened. And I was part of it. I grew up in it.
I think I'm past my due date. I just feel it.
I think I survived by running away some. Running away to work.
It's funny, but you get to a time in your life when you think you have all the friends you will ever have.
If I get rejected for a part, I pick myself up and say, 'OK, not today, maybe tomorrow I'll get this other part or something.'
But, you know, there's still an argument, there's still ten states that outlaw premarital sex, and many more states where adultery is still outlawed and a crime.
I love doing my own stunts but it's hard.
I offer my performance as prayer for someone I've worked with as an actor or someone who has died. The image that comes into my head as I walk to the stage, I offer that performance up for that person.
I try to stay fit. I try and do something every day but I don't jog. My body hates jogging.
I've never been in a street fight.
I do shadow boxing and use a heavy bag, but I don't spar with anyone.
I never thought about becoming a professional singer, but I am in touch with Bono about releasing a musical movie. It will be about an Irish band during the '70s who are looking for fortune in Las Vegas. I should play the singer of the band but I don't want to sing in front of anybody.
A sex symbol? A symbol of sex? I don't think that I am a sex symbol, although it's very flattering. I'm 59, now, so I think I'm possibly past my sell-by date. I think I am.
In real life, wolves will do anything to avoid contact with mankind.
Well I was on the jury duty on the Deauville Film Festival, a few years ago.
You think your life is going one way and then suddenly, you're on another track.
It's interesting, the more successful you become the more people want to give you stuff for nothing.
When I see great boxers, it's like reading a wonderful poem.
To be honest, I'm scared to death of rollercoaster rides.
Acting is invigorating. But I don't analyse it too much. It's like a dog smelling where it's going to do its toilet in the morning.
Rihanna is a very talented person. One of those people who are able to do whatever they want with great results.
Every cliche about kids is true; they grow up so quickly, you blink and they're gone, and you have to spend the time with them now. But that's a joy.
I've made many films and only a few times I've played real people.
I love working with children and this young boy, Thomas Sangster, is quite a remarkable young actor. He raises your game, you know. He certainly raised mine.
People ask me if I ever feel outside the Hollywood loop, and I never do, because both of us do a lot of theatre, so it's great for New York and it's also half-way between Europe and the west coast, so it's the best of both worlds.
Getting married and settling down isn't the most important thing in my life.
I'm constantly reading books on God or the absence of God and atheism.
And the Institute sent me a little film footage of Kinsey himself preparing to do an interview for television to talk about his work, so that was quite valuable for me.
But I was very, very lucky, and it was a wake up call as far as motorbikes are concerned. I never flirted with death on the bike, but now I'm totally convinced they're death machines.
I think there must be some other life forms, even if they're microscopic.
It's an ongoing joy being a dad.
I'm very much a homebody.
I was an OK boxer, I wasn't great, I was OK, but I loved the discipline of getting together every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, usually Saturday afternoons too, with a whole bunch of mates and training, very, very hard for about two-and-half hours.
Sitting down to eat in our house is about sharing, you know, talking about the day you've had, be it in school or work or whatever, so that's very important to us.
