It might look like some incredibly complicated map to get from English period films to American action anti-heroes, but it really is just about not having a plan.

This industry is too bonkers to understand. Every single part is completely different.

I'm not a big fan of people telling each other what to do, I'll say that.

Everybody has many people inside of them; I think we tend to present the one we feel is most appropriate at first, in order to gain acceptance or achieve what we want. It gets really interesting when this technique fails, and other levels are revealed.

Becoming that guy who does one thing is not very interesting. I'm lucky and proud to have been involved in period films and action films.

I grew up in the countryside in the middle of nowhere in England and got out as soon as I could!

I'm not intelligent enough to be a doctor, and kind of hands down you can't argue with the worth of that. But I don't really have an opinion about the worth of making art.

I've never been to war, and I would never presume to fully understand the horrors that that kind of experience can impart.

There are two qualities that I've noticed in good directors: One is that they have their vision very strongly in place; and two is that they listen to everyone's opinion and still remember their vision.

I guess the reason I wanted to be an actor was that it felt like it would offer something different all the time.

I was bullied a lot... doing anything overly well was punished by the kids.

I would say that being open to new things is kind of vital in this line of work, if not all lines of work, and being prepared to embrace the challenge of the new thing is something I want in my life until the day it's over.

I've been a big blagger all my life.

The more I'm committed to finding a way to genuinely be immersed in someone else's life, the more enjoyment there is in it. I've never been interested in smoke and mirrors and cutting corners. I'd rather just do it for real.

I went to a drama club when I was little, but it was more of an excuse to flirt with girls than anything else. We never put on plays.

I'm a big fan of imagination. I think it's the strongest tool we have, and there are some things that you just can't practice.

My great grandparents are Scottish, and I have this very tenuous connection which I try and bump up whenever I can, because I'd much rather be Scottish than English.

I don't do glamorous things.

I like Scottish people because they feel very true. They're always level and straight. They get a reputation for being hardened because of it, but I find them to be scrupulously honest people.

I really admire artists who take the time to recharge their batteries and not continually call on it. I think you can spot tired and jaded artists quite quickly.

I can only go places because I know that I can go away from them, if that makes sense. I like the gypsy lifestyle that filming affords.

I'm only really interested in taking a part if it's nothing like me.

I wasn't interested in football. It made me different. I wore glasses, had bad hair, a funny name, you name it.

I really enjoy the fact that the very boring, normal person that I am isn't kind of interesting to anyone. It's fine by me.

I believe that if you can discover something of the truth of a person, then you will start to understand, and to understand is to move towards, if not like, then at least an empathy of some kind.

I think saying you're bad at something is rather wonderful because then it doesn't matter anymore.

When I come home, all I do is cook. I love cooking, so I go to markets, buy food, cook it for friends. I love doing that.

I find it quite unsettling if I'm doing the same thing that I did yesterday.

Eating cold tuna fish out of a tin on a porch while two people are in love across a lake - I think that's desperately lonely.

I don't think you can decide how famous or not you become.

I don't think the idea of working in Hollywood really exists anymore. I think you work in films, and where the film is shot is where it's shot. The studio system doesn't really exist.

I get bored quickly. Always have. Short attention span.

I think you can decide how much of yourself you're willing to make public.

Wood is weirdly a big passion of mine. I really love it, all the way from trees to a finished table. The fact that it was alive and that each piece is different.

I only do the press for the work. I don't have a publicist. I don't go to events or self-promote or endorse things or whatever it is people are meant to do in that world.

The accent in England can change literally from street to street, and people have this sort of feudal tribalism whereby you can identify somebody's provenance by their voice.

Growing up in England, you're sort of spoiled, in a way. You sort of take it for granted that within a half-hour's drive, you could be walking around a stately home from the 1700s. It's not very hard to do - in California, you've got to take a flight!

I was asked by this British band called Kairos 4Tet to write lyrics for them. And I wrote lyrics for them. The album is called 'Everything We Hold,' and you can hear my lyrics.

'We' is a difficult word for me. I don't know if I feel 'we' about anything.

I think that what drives most of us as human beings is the want for something. You might have a hope, or a big dream, or a goal that you haven't yet achieved.

It's great to sit and talk about the films and the people I work with, rather than where I buy my socks or whatever.

If you are going to have any chance of replicating life, you need to live it.

I was quite solitary for 'Hitman.' I was quite apart. He struck me as a very sad individual. There was a mournful quality there.

All I would say is that when I've been very down or having kind of a tough time in my life, certain films or pieces of music or books have changed that. They've taken me out of a dark place and put me into a more positive one. And I think that if we can do that for people, then it's certainly worth doing.

I never want to overstay my welcome for any character. I would rather people are excited by the ideas a character generates in them rather than feeling bored and wishing he would just go away.

I really love living in cities where the people living above, below and next to you are from totally different worlds to you.

I'm a dual citizen in a way. I live in the States and have a green card, so my connection to British politics is almost nonexistent.

One of my uncles took me to my first movie in a cinema - 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.'

My father started his own business, and before that was a freelance lecturer, and my friends are artists and musicians; they don't have real jobs - none of us have real jobs.