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Once I got over the fear of writing female characters, it actually came quite easily and I was really happy with it. I just thought about girls I knew really, really well and I'd just have conversations with them and tried to relay how they talk about certain things.

I try not to identify too strongly with any of my characters. I like to stand back and see them objectively. I think this is why I often use boys instead of girls, just in case I get too close and lose the overall picture.

I met my darling wife Wilnelia in 1980 when we were on the judging panel for the Miss World contest at the Royal Albert Hall. With two ex-wives and five daughters, I thought I wouldn't be involved with anyone for a long time - if ever. Winnie was so gorgeous, my jaw dropped - and it's a big jaw to drop.

A man's primary fantasy is access to a variety of attractive women without the fear of rejection.

Most mainstream male fiction is littered with heroines, and female characters are basically so great, you want to fall in love with them.

I've been very lucky with the roles that I've played in that they were wonderful roles for women. They're incredible, flawed characters that I really gravitate toward. I just never want anybody to be able to put me in a box.

I think that I've always been attracted to characters who are positive and come from a very innocent place. I think there's a lot of room for discovery in these characters, and that's something I always have fun playing.

Almost every character I've ever played - and sometimes this is very conscious and sometimes it's not - I need to find what they love.

I think once you enter the dating world and you realise it's nothing like those Disney movies you watched when you were a little girl, you just become more guarded.

I'm always surrounded by good-looking guys, like Zac Efron, so I have to be with someone who's not going to get jealous about any of that, or when I'm kissing somebody in a scene.