If people take an interest in you and they think there’s half a chance, they might hang on. It’s dreadful.

I made the film in spite of Harvey, not because of Harvey.

I feel less often compelled to do the work than I was in the past.

At a certain age it just became apparent to me that this was probably the work that I would have to do.

I don’t know what impression you might have of the way I live. I live in a quiet place. I do not live as a hermit, though other people would prefer it if I did.

Making a film, setting it up and getting it cast and getting it together, is not an easy thing.

I see a lot of movies. I love films as a spectator, and that’s never obscured by the part of me that does the work myself. I just love going to the movies.

I think I have a strange relationship with time. I’m not really aware of that time passing. I don’t feel that I’m wasteful with time. But I’m not aware of it passing.

The last time I was on a small set would’ve been probably My Left Foot.

There must’ve been some part of me that wanted to make my mark. But there was never a defining moment.

I’m very often still very much alive for that other being and that other world long after the film is finished.

I suppose the place where I live is fairly remote, it would seem remote to some people.

I hate wasting people’s time.

How people are around a director, it really does affect everything, every detail of the life of the movie.

You can never fully put your finger on the reason why you’re suddenly, inexplicably compelled to explore one life as opposed to another.

My curiosity sustains me for the period of the shoot.

I was a savage for so many years of my life. There was some seed of determination in me that I was not conscious of. I was mostly consciously getting into trouble and drunk.

I think some actors thrive on working at a much greater pace than I do.

I suppose I have a highly developed capacity for self-delusion, so it’s no problem for me to believe that I’m somebody else.

I would wish for any one of my colleagues to have the experience of working with Martin Scorsese once in their lifetime.

I find it easier to work when it’s quiet.

Being at the centre of a film is a burden one takes on with innocence the first time. Thereafter, you take it on with trepidation.

The whole thing of weight, I guess it’s because there is a wider fascination we all have with weight.

Many years ago, I really didn’t know where the next work was coming from.

Everybody has to know for themselves what they’re capable of.

When I’ve gone back to work, it’s always with that sense of inevitability. That may be a complete delusion, but it’s the one that I need to get out of bed and go about my business. That sense that I can’t avoid this thing. I better just get on with it.

There’s nothing worse than finding yourself in a situation, a very demanding piece of work, and knowing that you’re not a true ally to the person who’s in charge of all that.

If people take an interest in you and they think there’s half a chance, they might hang on. It’s dreadful.