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All history is defined by shifting modes of reality and time and how things change. That's what I love about cinema. It changes in the moment.

One of the things I like about doing historical films is drawing the line between now and then.

History tends to take the simplest possible view. As soon as you start to scratch the surface of any historical event, it starts to become more and more complicated, which is not the stuff of Hollywood films. Complications tend to break down the budget.

Films made in the spirit of the past continued to be made.

When you see the films of certain young directors, you get the impression that film history begins for them around 1980.

Being a little bit of a movie buff, the fact that I'm working in the middle of movie history is incredible.

Every great film should seem new every time you see it.

Big feature films are another world.

I realise that I do not change the course of history. I am an actor, I do a movie, that's the end of it. You have to realise we are just clowns for hire. After I had success it was great, at first, not to worry about money. It was on my mind when I was growing up.