I don't categorize characters into one syllable. These are fully-rounded characters that I don't judge; I just play them.

The audience, the place you're in, has everything to do with how your performance goes.

Francis Underwood was entirely based on Richard III. When Michael Dobbs wrote 'House of Cards' in the original British series, Richard III is what he based the character on.

I guess I've been training in the theater for as long as I can remember.

I don't play villainy. I wouldn't even know how to play it.

Film is very condensed.

It's not easy to sustain a long career, and sometimes I don't even think about how long I've been doing it.

But I feel that I have a responsibility to help the film and I have relations with the studio and with those who put up the money so that I can tell a story that I believe in.

I love doing impressions.

What I like about Britain is that I can live a normal life here.

I actually have a number of lovely watches from the International Watch Company.

I've always found it strange that a director can hire any designer he wants from any country. But if he hires a foreign actor, it's like he's stolen the crown jewels and run across the river with them.

And I certainly won't lay out areas of my life that I think are just private.

A British director directed 'American Beauty,' an important film about American life, and it didn't matter. What only mattered was everyone's sensibility.

I like being able to go to a local pub and have great food and particularly love pubs that welcome my dogs.

I was not a studious kid, and I struggled to find things that would command my attention and engage my ideas and energies.

There are a lot of people out there who offer roles to actors because they'll elevate their movie to a place the movie would never reach.

I am now a commander of the British Empire.

The more shows that are produced, the more writers are hired, producers are hired, actors are hired, directors are hired, it means the more people will get employed. It's better for the economy. It's a fantastic thing.

Audiences grew to like this duality of feeling, where you're both championing a character and you're revolted by them.

If you look back through history in the United States, there have been very few landslide elections. Half the country always voted for someone else.

Exposure to the arts and culture is enormously valuable.

People don't tend to hassle me because when I've got a hat on, I look like a banker. I'm just a plain guy.

Whether that's positive or not, people are talking about the Old Vic Theater again with passion and commitment and controversy and debate.

I always thought that, in a way, you want your Superman to be a total unknown.

The only real experiences I've had with therapists were the ones who were working with me and my family when my mother was ill.

I'm able to hang up the character with the costume at the end of the movie.

There are good people in the lobbying industry. Lobbyists can serve a very useful purpose.

Clarence Darrow was a unique and courageous man. Several of my favourite actors have played Darrow... Henry Fonda, Orson Welles and Spencer Tracy.

I think that there was a period of time - and I would reckon it was about 12 years - where I was just determined to see if I could build a career for myself.

When I was young, I learned very early on that I could make my mother laugh. And that was one of the greatest sounds I ever heard.

To look in the eyes of audiences and see the kind of naughty glee that they got with being on the inside, the audience becomes your co-conspirators.

Essentially, your voice is an instrument; it's a muscle, and you have to treat it like a muscle, and so you have to work it.

Am I arrogant? I've been arrogant, sure; everybody's been arrogant.

I've been intrigued by politics my whole life. And, yes, I am very close to the Clintons. I was a Hillary person until I was an Obama person. And she was a Hillary person, too, until she was an Obama one, evidently.

The stigma that used to exist many years ago, that actors from film don't do television, seems to have disappeared. That camera doesn't know it's a TV camera... or even a streaming camera. It's just a camera.

The next day I was in my school's production of All My Sons. This was the performance where I realized something was happening between me and the audience that I hadn't recognized before.

Secondarily, I think films that are driven by music also terrify studios.

I mean we all played as kids. You play games, you take on different characters, you imitate; the fun and the love of play has never left me.

My mother was sarcastic and delightful and, trust me, quite remarkable.

Maybe there are people who are gamers who haven't seen movies I have made, or the movies I have made have made no impression on them at all.

No one should ever feel sorry for me. I've been treated very well for the most part.

I am so leading the life that I want and wanted and dreamed of as a kid. I'm trying very hard not to abuse it or take advantage of it.

No matter how good you might be in a movie, you'll never be any better. But in a play, I can be better next Tuesday. That's the thrill of it.

For kids growing up now, there's no difference watching 'Avatar' on an iPad or watching YouTube on TV or watching 'Game of Thrones' on their computer. It's all content. It's just story.

For me, coming to work every day has turned out to be exactly what I hoped it would be.

I've been on sets where things weren't relaxed because someone was creating tension for no reason.

I'm not someone who's led my life trying to get publicity; I'd rather do my work and go home.

I'm lucky if I find one movie a year that's worth doing, and when I do find one, it usually only takes 20-30 days to shoot.

I went through a period of great rebellion within my family, when I was about 9 or 10. I was mad, I had no focus, had no real interest in anything, and so I started to do things that were just rebellious and stupid.