I think that internal conflict works very well, because, after all, all the best drama is fuelled by conflict.

I love being grungy and dirty.

When I told my mom I was going to audition for 'The Hobbit,' she said, 'Well, you've always loved Tolkien.' And she was right.

To survive in a profession like this, you have to have absolute discipline and commitment, and I did not quite have it for musical theater.

I confess I've got a yearning to go to Los Angeles, but I can't work out if it is because a lot of British actors seem to go or because there's this perception that the bottom has fallen out of British drama, so therefore, it's the place to head for.

I speak some dwarvish.

If you're used to being a maverick, then people don't get surprised when you start acting strangely.

I was in a production of 'Macbeth.'

When you already have a following, people are more likely to employ you.

I was an estate agent for three years. That was pretty grim.

Someone told me a woman bought a dog so she could take it to the same park where I go running, but I'm hoping that's rubbish.

Do people really think that about my nose? I spent my whole life hating it, so it's amusing that people like it!

I think my fighting skills have certainly been improved by working with Peter Jackson.

You know, to an extent, Method acting feels occasionally lazy.

It is possible to work out of New York on film and television and still not lose your connection to theater.

I have been to the theater more since I have lived in New York than I ever really did in London working on a television show.

Light, trivial comedy does not appeal - it is not something I go to see.

I think insanity is the hardest thing to play.

I come from very conservative parents, and we weren't particularly wealthy, but we were comfortable.

I didn't become an actor because I thought I'd make lots of money.

I'm not interested in building wealth, which is kind of naive and probably frowned on, living in America. It's something that people don't necessarily understand, but if I die poor, I die poor.

The narrative that Peter Jackson has put into 'The Battle of the Five Armies,' it stands alone as a film. Rather than just finishing off the story, it's like a whole new adventure all of its own. I'm very excited about it.

People get to know me slowly and over the course of time. I'll probably still be a newcomer when I'm 60.

I don't think actors need to go on pedestals. I don't buy it.

I think that when Tolkien created Gollum and the ring, he even expressed in his biography that he never really knew what he created until he went back and looked at it.

I never like to go out of character when filming starts. I fear that if I do, I might not be able to pick it up again.

I'd like to act in a film without special effects.

I'd like to live off-grid.

I kind of got lost down a road of TV and film, so it's great to come back to theatre.

You can't reject anything in your life as an artist. Everything has its use.

I'm probably not very good at rom-com, being funny on demand; I'll leave that to the comedians.

I've done an awful lot of skiing all over Europe: I've done Italy, Austria, France. I skied loads in New Zealand - I did pretty much every ski slope I could find.

I don't really like making too much of a statement with what I'm wearing.

I am just not a water baby. I can swim, but I just don't.

I'm not much of a show-off.

I want to be strong enough to cope with the roles, but I don't want to be cast as the guy that takes his shirt off.

You can spend a bit of yourself when you give yourself to a character. At the end of a job, you have to remind yourself who and what you are.

I have a visual mind, so when I read a book, I get an instant picture in my head and it's very clear.

There's a very strong force in Tolkien's characters.

My instruction to my parents is that I would rather they enjoy their retirement than leave me anything when they go. I am much happier watching them enjoying life.

I do believe in pensions.