Well, thing is, after they cancelled 'Zen', I didn't work for eight months. And in that case, it was not my choice. After I've done something that I'm really proud of and I think changes the way I'm perceived, the immediate reaction is: nothing.
People talk about opportunity knocking, but the gate was always swinging in the breeze before I got to the door.
I was the lead in 'Interview With The Vampire', until Tom Cruise decided he was interested. I was in 'The Wings Of The Dove' with Uma Thurman, until that got cancelled. I was in 'Shakespeare In Love' with Julia Roberts, until that fell apart.
I no longer have a style to maintain. I rent a little flat in Los Angeles, I don't take holidays, I don't dine out and I take cheap flights.
I think if a character appeals to you, there are certain parts of yourself will come to the fore and other parts that will play down.
Yes, years of compromise and disappointment have added depth to my acting.
I'm only based in L.A. because I couldn't get any work in England.
For me, if I were to be at home in any kind of style, it is more comedy than anything else.
I've always believed very, very strongly that the way you treat people is more important than anything, professionally or otherwise.
Lazy journalists, they'll read stuff and get a quote then ask the same question again hoping I'll say a similar thing; it's very tiresome.
I recognize myself to a lesser or greater extent in everything I read, good and bad, and that's part of being a human being if you're honest enough. And obviously the darker parts are the things you don't let control you.
Given the choice between someone saying I was handsome in a role or ugly but good, I know which I'd choose.
For a long time, I've had to hustle. If a film role is obviously great, then it's been difficult for me to get a look-in.
I want to be able to do anything. I know it's probably not reasonable to expect, but that's what I'd like to do.
My career has suddenly started to be the one that I'd always wanted, not in terms of level of success, but in terms of - and this is what I've been banging on about - playing different parts in different media.
A large part of my adolescence was spent doing my very best to draw attention to myself.
My feelings about my mortality are less selfish than they used to be. I used to affect a cavalier attitude to death; now I see it from my son's perspective.
'The Taming Of The Shrew' is probably the first time I've worked in this country for about ten years, apart from theatre, and it's not for want of trying. It was so fantastic to work in London - it felt really glamorous.
At times, I think of my career as a map. The closer you get to the map, the more you know where you are, but the closer I get to my career, the less happy I feel. At the same time, I have carved out the career for myself which I wanted.
I'm very, very happy with my recognition/lack of recognition in England in terms of my life. In terms of household name-age. The public's memory is very short, luckily.
