Before I do a movie, I watch Meryl Streep movies over and over. It's not to mimic her. It's to remind myself to be more committed.
I don't always see my movies right away. And there are some I haven't seen at all. Sometimes that bothers the directors, so I'm obliged to see them.
Mike Leigh and Ken Loach are the people I look up to. They are quality film-makers making interesting, controversial, ground-breaking movies with very little eye on the marketplace.
Right now, if you're interested in being a dramatic actor, they're not making that many just regular dramas. Movies have to have some other thing going on.
On a television show, you basically make a movie a week. Movies take three months - it's crazy. They're so slow, it's like vacation to me.
I keep telling people I'll make movies until I'm fifty and then I'll go and do something else. I'm going to be a professional gentleman of leisure.
When I was a kid I was much happier watching old movies than kids' TV, and I ended up watching all the old Ealing comedies.
There's no big budget Canadian movie. Whatever movies are big budget in Canada come from the States. Or also have States financing. Everything's pretty small.
The next thing I knew, I was out of the service and making movies again. My first picture was called, GI Blues. I thought I was still in the army.
I sure lost my musical direction in Hollywood. My songs were the same conveyer belt mass production, just like most of my movies were.
I'm a big fan of 'Woody Allen' movies, so I like all the actresses in his movies like 'Diane Keaton' and Mia Farrow.
What I've always thought I would do is make a bunch of movies and then stop to teach for awhile. And then just teach at film schools - you know, teach children.
I was the only swimmer in movies. Tarzan was long gone, and he couldn't have done them anyway; he could never have gotten into my bathing suit.
I won't go to movies with permissiveness, four-letter words, or violence. Show me 'E.T.' and 'Chariots of Fire' instead. That's entertainment, not exploitation of the human body.
Movies are all about plot. Theater, even if it's story heavy, it's about ideas. Theater has to resonate in your heart in a way that movies don't.
More and more movies have been pressured to allow reporters and TV cameras to come onto the set while you're working, and I find that a real violation.
I don't make movies for the same reason that a lot of people do. I make films because I need to see them exist in a very specific way.
I've always wanted to be a Meryl Streep or a Natalie Portman. I want to do all kinds of different movies, to be a chameleon. I don't want to limit myself.
So, one way or another, I found myself in a few movies. I take it seriously when I'm on the set, but I don't take myself seriously as an actor.
I am a keen observer of my own films; I also try to discover myself through the movies I make.
The long and short of it is that I am now in a position in England to green light movies, and that's really excellent - not high-budget movies, but movies none the less.
