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'Hamlet' is obviously a role a lot of actors want to portray or be involved with in some way and that I'd like to be involved in.

Hamlet is a little daunting.

Usually, you see this play as a guy who can't make up his mind, but our version is more of a revenge thriller than a man who is pontificating what he should do next. I've never seen a 'Hamlet' this big, this exciting, with this many cast members; it's quite a spectacle.

When you're playing King Lear, you have to have a little humour, or you will have no tragedy when the king dies.

Hamlet is an astonishing intelligence.

If you were to ask everyone what 'Hamlet' was about, they might say, "It's about a prince, and he says, 'To be or not to be.'"

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.

I have no desire to play King Lear or Hamlet. I never had a grand ambition. I just followed my nose.

I'm constantly intimidated by Shakespeare's work. Trying to decipher what he's saying and holding on to that thought - not just as an actor, but as a human being - is a rigour.

I want to play King Lear, Macbeth, Benedict, Coriolanus. I wouldn't mind doing Hamlet again. Well, I'm a little old. Perhaps I can rub Vaseline on the audience's eyes.