Quotes

The act of seeing any film generally is you knowing more than the characters, even if it's the classic Hitchcock shot of two people talking and a bomb being under the table. Part of the pleasure of it is seeing where people go wrong, and the irony of situations.

I've only ever really been in shows of friends, so I don't know exactly what happened. I think I'm incredibly cheap to hire. That can buy some traction. I'm as cheap as it's possible for an actor to be legally.

I like Roy Orbison's video for 'I Drove All Night' because it's so literal. It is just a man driving throughout the night. I like that silliness. To be in a video is a ridiculous thing. It's almost impossible to do it without any humour.

I find performing very difficult. It's difficult to be a good actor. I get very nervous, even though it sounds disingenuous, because you could legitimately go, 'Well, why do it?'

As in, I think 'Badlands' is one of the funniest films of all time: 'Every day I wish I was carried off to a magical land, but that never happened' is one of the funniest lines in any film.

A lot of comedies are based on the reaction shot. You have one person doing something stupid and one person is generally the straight man, and the laughs generally come on the reaction of the straight man to the funny thing the other person has done.

No. I really don't think I'm cool. I'm not.

My parents didn't go to university and weren't brought up in England. They hadn't heard of any other universities other than 'Cambridge' or 'Oxford.'

Louis Malle is maybe one of my favourite directors, but I love Tarantino.

I'm not sure I'd hire myself in anything. I certainly couldn't be an actor. That would be terrible. For everyone.

I'm not good at watching myself.

I'm just terrible. At talking. With words.

I don't really know what my personality is anyway. I don't really have one.

I actually prefer night shoots to days. I prefer being up. It's easier for me. I'm more of a night person.

I was directing before I started doing 'The IT Crowd.' It wasn't something that led on after acting I guess. I was sort of doing this stuff before acting.

I suppose I sort of like effects that have some organic elements rather than ones that are entirely generated by a computer. Just because, no matter how complex the algorithm is, it's still an algorithm.

[explaining the message of The Double (2013)] Darth Vader is within all of us. And I remember that every time I shower.

[Flat Earthers] I don't get into the debate. I mean, best of luck to the guys. I think you'll find they're mostly guys. I mean, you don't have to be right, it's so bourgeois!