Mike Leigh

Given the choice of Hollywood or poking steel pins in my eyes, I'd prefer steel pins.

But films should be voyeuristic. What else is a film if you're not snooping into somebody else's lives?

My work requires acting at its most committed - it demands actors of enormous resilience, but also intelligence and wit. It doesn't work for narcissistic or selfish actors.

I don't think they're going to pay me to play Mufasa.

I love Hindi films.

I would've done anything to work with Satyajit Ray.