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I have to be stretched in some way. There's not enough things that come my way that I fancy.

The important thing for me when I look at characters is to consider the kind of constraints placed upon them. Now, me personally, I don't like to have a lot of constraints placed upon me.

All of my characters tend to be montages of different people I've met: little bits and pieces of their personalities put together.

I put a lot of myself into my characters when I write.

For me, plot always comes out of character, so I had to be sure of my characters.

I've always tried to kind of stretch my wings as an actor and do things that are different.

Part of me becomes the characters I'm writing about. I think readers feel like they are there, the way I am, as a result.

My characters populate a big, vibrant world. Sometimes they rub shoulders. Sometimes they don't.

I always think people who stretch themselves are interesting. That's something to admire, isn't it?

The roles I was lucky enough to get were real stretches for me: usually a character who was older, or a little weird, or whatever. And it was hard, not just for the lack of work but because you have to face up to how people are looking at you.