Quotes

[talking about his character Boromir] He's a fallen hero, a very gentle man under that exterior. He's lived in an environment always ravaged by war and had to be realistic. He wants to use the ring against the enemy instead of destroying it. He doesn't understand the complexities this piece of metal can have on human beings.

[spoken in answer to question at Cannes Film Festival Troy (2004) Interview] There's a wealth of literature out there which, hopefully, will be, you know, exploded in the future, and I personally find it very rewarding to be involved with classic storytelling, and sort of legendary characters.

[on Casino Royale (2006)] I think there was a time I was linked to it but I suppose I blew it playing 006. They made a good choice in Daniel Craig. He's a very good actor. He was in one of the first Sharpes we ever did and I gave him a bit of a battering. So we can always say Sharpe battered Bond.

A common misperception of me is...that I am a tough, rough northerner, which I suppose I am really. But I'm pretty mild-mannered most of the time. It's the parts that you play I guess. I don't mind it. I'm not a tough guy. I'd like to act as a fair, easygoing, kind man at some point.

I sort of leave the characters at the end of the day. I don't carry anything around with me. No excess baggage or unnecessary thoughts. I think it's too exhausting to do that. To put things into perspective - your work is your work and your leisure time is something else.

When I'm working I tend to listen to classical music in my trailer. Bach (Johann Sebastian Bach), Vivaldi (Antonio Vivaldi) and Mozart (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) put me in a good frame of mind, make me focused and clear. Bach is like the Shakespeare (William Shakespeare) of music.

I was a big Bowie (David Bowie) fan when I was younger and I still am. I even dyed my hair red and had the same hairstyle. He was very big in Sheffield, people don't realize how important he was - so were Marc Bolan, Lou Reed, Roxy Music... it was a very luxurious time.

[on David Bowie] To be able to create music like that, to be a poet, to constantly change his look and challenge everything, was quite incredible. It was very attractive, if I'm honest. He was luxurious and decadent and it was infectious, you wanted to be in the world that his character inhabited.

[on Madness] All the videos were so good, they always seem fresh and new, though the lyrics are quite melancholy.

With actors there used to be a kind of taboo about 'Are you a TV actor or a film actor?' Those lines don't exist anymore. Now you're getting people like Matthew McConaughey and many others doing quality television. And I think audiences appreciate it. They're saying, 'We're not just watching the same old stuff now.' There are unpredictable endings.

[on Peter O'Toole] The first time I met him on the set, he was in a robe with a cigarette holder and he said: 'Sean, how are you, dear boy?' He was just how I imagined him to be.

[on Jeremy Corbyn] I think he speaks a lot of sense. I don't mean I want to go back to the 80s, the strikes and stuff like that, but he's sticking up for the working-class man and it's time we heard that voice again.

[on Donald Trump] I don't think British people can believe that this buffoon is a prospective American president.

We took a break from filming Sharpe in the late 1990s and the work just dried up for me. I was still being offered parts but they were rubbish. I wasn't prepared to do any old tat so I just sat at home, slowly being driven up the wall, waiting for something decent to come in. I felt demoralised and dejected and it was a difficult time in my life. Like anyone who has been out of work will tell you, it really gets you down. I finally did a small British film, called Essex Boys, which didn't do brilliantly at the box office but got me started again. I don't know if being unemployed had made me difficult to live with, but it probably did. I know that I was pretty unhappy with life.

All this focus on my private life is the most unappealing aspect of being an actor. I don't like it, but it goes with the territory and I have to put up with it. I certainly don't set out to attract attention.

I've played a lot of baddies, they were great but they weren't very fulfilling - and I always died.

[on intimacy coordinators] It would inhibit me more because it's drawing attention to things. Somebody saying, 'Do this, put your hands there, while you touch his thing.' I think the natural way lovers behave would be ruined by someone bringing it right down to a technical exercise.

[Lord of the Rings conventions when he tried adding messages with his autographs] I didn't like how the organizers treated the fans. They'd say, 'No, no, just a signature. He needs to pay more for you writing a message.' And these fans are good-natured, positive people who were getting tossed around and overcharged for things.