BEN WHISHAW

I think I have a degree of confidence, but I also have terrible insecurity, like anybody does.

The most amazing thing is when you find yourself watching someone in the cafe or something doing something weird. It's amazing what people do, isn't it, when you just look at them, when you take the time to look.

The criminal justice system, like any system designed by human beings, clearly has its flaws.

I reckon domesticated cats have a pretty good life.

I don't have any ambition to make lots of money or win an Oscar or anything like that. It's not about that for me.

When you have a character to work with, you carry them around in a strange way - they make you look at the world in a different way.

I'm not tortured and neurasthenic - I'm really not.

The thing I love most about acting is that your capacity evolves as you evolve as a human being.

I'm really hopeless with technology - I don't even have a computer.

I used to collect knick-knacks, like wizards, trolls and little buddhas, and arrange them like precious things on a shelf.

Filmmakers tell stories to explore human nature, which is always a flawed thing.

Your one certainty in life, your power as a human being, is that you have a choice in every situation about what you do next and about how you take what has happened to you.

I don't think anyone can walk through the world in a state of vulnerability all the time, can they?

I love films. I love music. I love poetry and stories. All of that I feel... I sort of get very excited and fed by.

I love taking on other people's words. They are much more interesting to me than my own.

I wish that the arts were better supported, and you can't say that enough times, but I also believe that whatever happens, artists will keep going.

We are so mired in the complexity of our reactions to other people that when you come across someone who is asocial, there is a simplicity that is refreshing.

I think the sensation of being moved by a piece of art is something that is really good for a person's soul.

It's fun to pretend you're good at something you know you wouldn't be good at in real life.

My intuition comes up with better stuff than my head, I think.

I think that sometimes in theater, I don't prepare much beyond going to the rehearsals.

I don't think I am especially interested in celebrities, but I love talking about what is going on with people and why they do what they do.

I've gone on workout regimes, but I seem to have a system that is very resistant to changing.

The thing about acting is that it's fairly random. At the end of the day you take what drifts past you or what's given to you.

What I notice about people who are gifted in filmmaking is that they're great thinkers. They engage with big ideas and they engage with people.