It's not even about being negative. It's just being unsettled, unsatisfied, unfinished.

What's my favourite boWhat's my favourite book? It changes all the time.ok? It changes all the time.

I'm attracted to things that are challenging and fun and interesting, and it certainly seems that audiences enjoy them as well.

The less you know about me, the easier it is to convince you that I am that character on screen. It allows an audience to come into a movie theatre and believe I am that person".

It takes stamina to get up like an athlete every single night, seven to eight performances a week, 20 weeks in a row. And there are many young performers who only learn their craft in the two minute bits it takes to film a scene. You never learn the arc of storytelling, the arc of a character that way.

One of the tasks that any artistic director has is, you're trying to bring elements together that will work. The truth is that you could bring all the best talents in the world together and produce a big turkey.

If you're lucky enough to do well, it's your responsibility to send the elevator back down.

Living in London has become incredible. I suppose it's easy to love where you live if you love what you're doing. But this is not just a visit: it's my home.

People think that direct address was invented by Ferris Bueller, but in fact, it wasn't. It was invented by Shakespeare.

As an actor, you're always nervous as to what a director will do with something.

What a martyr craves more than anything is a sword to fall on, so you sharpen the blade and hold it at just the right angle.

I feel it's a responsibility for anyone who breaks through a certain ceiling... to send the elevator back down and give others a helpful lift.

I write a lot about my experiences and the people I meet. I've got a lot of material. But a book about me? It seems sort of odd.

I cotton to the idea that people are much closer to being flawed; they have problems and don't always make the right choices.

Edward Norton and I have known each other awhile. I just think he's the real deal, supremely talented and smart. He's got a great sense of humor.

You learn every single day when you're running a company. You learn as you go.

There are ways in which you can make sure that even if people come to the theatre because they know an actor or actress, by the end, they've forgotten that, and they leave going, 'Wow - what an amazing play.'

Some politicians that I've seen have been brilliant with the public. They almost speak with the skill of an actor.

President Obama will go down as having passed some of the most historic bills in the history of this country.

People sometimes have to be reminded, I'm not Frank Underwood. I'm an actor named Kevin Spacey.

Have we become so celebrity-obsessed that there is no longer a difference between a character and an actor? I hope not.

I have to remember if I'm at some charitable event where kids are... I try to remember don't swear in front of the kids!

Over the years, I've spent a lot of time in Washington. It's a great theater town.

Meeting the person you are going to be playing is very unique.

The process of doing a play is an organic one, and the process of doing a film is totally inorganic.

There's no doubt that some of the greatest films ever made have come from the theater. It's all a matter of finding a way to make the theater experience watchable on film.

Whether it's 'Veep' or 'Homeland' or 'The West Wing' - which is a more idealised version of democracy - people are fascinated by politics.

You just play what a writer writes, in terms of what a character chooses to do and how a character chooses to deal with their various relationships.

What hasn't surprised me is that audiences, as we found starting with box sets, want control, to decide how they watch it. Appointment viewing is slowly being put slightly behind.

It's extremely dangerous to compare anyone else to Shakespeare.

I don't watch rugby.

I think it is just a function of the fact that I moved around so much as a child that I learnt early on to make every place my home.

It's a really wonderful thing to focus your life on something other than your own personal career and ambition.

I want to do better. I want to produce better stories. I want to do better plays.

I terribly miss - we all miss, I think - somebody like the great producer Irving Thalberg. He had a foot in both camps: He understood us creative people. And he understood the money people.

London is a very energising place to be.

I remember meeting the likes of Johnny Carson and Jimmy Stewart for the first time and being completely starstruck.

I have wanted to have children. I do want to have children.

There does seem to be in the U.S. now an ideology and an entrenchment that has stopped people doing what they are hired to do, which is govern rather than run for office the whole time.

Why not sit around a Beverly Hills pool collecting residual cheques? That is not the kind of life I want.

If you wanna compete, you've got to get into the original content game.

As a producer or financier, you are going to go where you get the best bang for your buck.

I can imagine there is going to come a time when someone will do 13 hours of a story without breaks.

I don't even think in terms of ambition.

Anytime someone can beat the acting out of someone else, I think it's a wonderful thing.

I think people love it when anybody acts bad; it's not particular to me.

My admiration for 'Mary Tyler Moore' is very, very big because they went out on top.

I'm not a writer, and I don't want there to be any mistake about that.

While data can only tell you what has happened in the past, it can in some ways give you a sense of what might be of interest to an audience in the future.

'The 24 Hour Plays' is a quite brilliant, exhilarating event for everyone concerned.