The first lead that I ever played was a young Boy George when I was seventeen. I shaved my eyebrows off. That's as far from leading man looks as you can get.

I love history, and Churchill is one of my favorite people to study. He's a fascinating, fascinating man.

I've always enjoyed being on a horse.

It's fun to play a dark character, but you go home at the end of the day not feeling very good about yourself. You go away feeling dirty. It seeps into the air.

If my feet ever left the ground, my mother would soon put them back down.

It's important to read as much as you can because you never know when you will find the best script that you want to do next. I'm always quite picky in what I read and what I go for.

I'm a huge festival fan. I love to dance and dance all night long.

I'm literally into any type of music imaginable.

'Romeo & Juliet' is still relevant and real.

I don't feel like I've ever kissed any of the people I have done for acting. That moment didn't exist for you; it existed for that person.

External beauty is a bizarre thing to me.

I think I'm low-maintenance.

You can have an amazing director and terrible script, and the film's not going to be great. But if you have the most incredible script and an okay director, you could still get a really good film.

I saw 'The Fountain' because my friend came over one day and said, 'This is my favorite movie I've ever seen. Please watch this,' and I watched it, and that was amazing.

Yeah, 'Requiem for a Dream' - it'll put you off a lot of things, that film, that's for sure.

When I was younger, I looked a lot older than I was. They have these working laws in England where you have to be 16: if you're over 16, you don't have to be restrained by working hours and things like that. In America, it's actually 18.

I would hope I was raised polite and charming.

I love art. My sister is an artist and my mother is a painter, so it is very much in the family. I haven't ever wanted to be a fine artist myself - my sister robbed me of my artistic talent, I think.

I looked on IMDB, at the message boards there, and someone had posted something about a sheep having more talent than me.

When you're forced to watch something in school, you never really enjoy it; you sort of rebel against it in a certain way.

I tried to forget about playing Romeo in 'Romeo and Juliet' and just think about him as a normal guy, as a normal character, and just try and approach him the same I would every other character.

I get bored quite easily, so I like to keep my mind entertained by challenging myself.

Articles always end up being about my appearance. I had a conversation with Jude Law: he told me people's obsession with looks goes away after a while.

The 'boy next door' parts I get offered, I don't find interesting.

I only want to work with interesting filmmakers.

I turned down one of the big young adult franchises.

I suppose 'Worried About the Boy' was a brave choice, but only in the sense that if I didn't get it right, my career would be over before it had begun.

It's very important to hold on to what you want. In front of you is very easy fame and very easy money.

I saw 'Othello' at the National Theatre in London, and it was so stunning. I was so moved. It's beautiful.

Romeo and Juliet were stunning and beautiful, but a lot of the other characters surrounding them were caricatures.

'Noah,' for me, wasn't a decision about taking on the Bible. It was about working with Darren Aronofsky.

'GQ,' you've been patiently and stylishly educating me forever. To be truly stylish, you have to be kind and courteous.

I grew up in London, and that's where I spend most of my time. Unless I have a really good reason not to be, I'll always be in London.

To be able to experience a thousand different lives within my lifetime is something that always appealed to me. I wasn't content with just being one person for the rest of my life.

I think Hollywood is interesting. As an actor, Hollywood would be a horrible place to go if you weren't actually invited.

I have always wanted to work with Judy Dench, and that hasn't happened yet, so that would be fun.

I don't necessarily want to hear about my talent or my greatness as an actor.

The grittier, the dirtier, the worse I can look, the happier I am. It takes the pressure off.

Even to this day, when someone says something derogatory about Boy George, it still upsets and offends me. Part of me will always be quite attached to him.