Sometimes I used to think to myself, ‘Have I lost a sense of humor?’ but I don’t think that I have. I think one can be as snarky and sarcastic as lots of people, but I have never found that it makes me particularly happy.
I’ll tell you what I’m grateful for, and that’s the clarity of understanding that the most important things in life are health, family and friends, and the time to spend on them.
There are some amazing stories from all over this country, where people’s work and contribution has been acknowledged. To be part of that is an absolutely fantastic feeling.
Many of us live in dysfunctional families, and so even if it’s in a fairy tale, or perhaps because it’s in a fairy tale, we have a chance to look at that side of our reflected lives differently.
Variety is very, very good. Going from medium to medium, if you get the chance to do it, from theater to television to film, which are all distinctly different, keeps me sharp.
In ‘Henry V,’ the story of the assumption of true and responsible leadership by Henry I think is hard-won. He has to lose friends; he has to risk his life.
One of the things that makes Hamlet unique among Shakespeare’s characters is his courage to face up to the darker elements of his personality.
My experience of great storytelling, working with classics, is just finding a way to present it simply but let the story do its own work, or be an invite to the audience’s imagination.
Friendship is one of the most tangible things in a world which offers fewer and fewer supports.
To look out of a car in Scania, you see a painting on the horizontal – one windmill, one tiny farmhouse, acres of beet or grass.
Lighten up, just enjoy life, smile more, laugh more, and don’t get so worked up about things.
Shakespeare is rhythmic; he is musical in the sense that he likes poetry, and he’s musical because he constantly refers to settings where there’s singing and dancing.
I think that short films often contain an originality, a creative freedom, an energy and an invention that is inspiring and entertaining. I think they are, as Shakespeare put it, a good deed in a naughty world.