Some relationships get easier as you get older, depending on what sort of person you are. I don't think I've got any better at them.

On the whole, actors shout when they don't know what they're doing, trying to make an impact.

I've always felt that 'X-Men' was about something serious. It wasn't just fantasy.

It's my impression that I've done every job that I've been asked to do.

I live for the text. It's my job.

You see people in Hollywood trying to make blockbuster after blockbuster, but it's not possible. There's some god up there saying, 'You will fail now.' But I suppose that's true of us all.

If you are playing King Lear you are the centre of attention anyway. You don't need to draw attention to yourself. It's all laid out for you.

Actors don't, in fact, retire, do they? It took me a while to remember that.

What's nice for me, having identified myself for years as being rather shy, is now, wherever I am, in public, there tends to be a friendly face who's pleased to see me, and I like that.

It's easier to go from theatre to film than the other way round. In film you're absolutely loved and cossetted and cared for. In film your director makes your performance. In theatre you're carrying it all.

I don't normally take to Yorkshiremen.

The first film role I deliberately chose to play after I came out was a raging heterosexual, John Profumo.

Fame creeps up on you.

I just followed my parents' example and advice on living, which was to leave the world a better place than you found it. They were professional do-gooders, ministers of the church, social workers, teachers, and missionaries, that sort of thing.

In the U.K. there is still work to be done, particularly in schools, stopping the homophobic bullies in the playground and introducing unbiased discussion on gay issues in the classroom.

Every time you work is a challenge. There's a constant worry about it, and it's a side of acting I don't like.

Will I miss Gandalf? Well, I don't miss him, because people are constantly coming up to me mentioning him and talking about him, so I don't feel that I've lost contact.

People who are truly horrible are often the most interesting people in the room. You look at them and just say, 'Why?'

You might be surprised by how interested young people are in older people.

I remember Tom Stoppard saying to me when I came out, 'I feel so sorry for you, because you'll never have children.' These days I would say, 'Well, why not, Tom?'

Even now, there are young actors who want careers as romantic leading men, and the best thing is not to reveal you're gay.

There's lots of Tolkien that must be confusing to people.

Gandalf's a good guy, and it's a good part. He says the right things, he believes the right things. An actor can have fun with it.

Who does understand life?