Rupert Friend

“I don't love plays. I don't love doing the same thing, every night, for 100 nights in a row.”

“The more I'm committed to finding a way to genuinely be immersed in someone else's life, the more enjoyment there is in it. I've never been interested in smoke and mirrors and cutting corners. I'd rather just do it for real.”

“There are some great actors I don't want to meet because I don't want to know how they did it. I don't want to know anything about their personal life, and the illusion, or whatever it is, the shape-shiftery magic stuff that they do, which is my joy.”

“I was asked by this British band called Kairos 4Tet to write lyrics for them. And I wrote lyrics for them. The album is called 'Everything We Hold,' and you can hear my lyrics.”

“I went to a drama club when I was little, but it was more of an excuse to flirt with girls than anything else. We never put on plays.”

“The old saying, 'An army marches on its stomach' has never been more true than in film and television. If it's good, cheerful, and exciting and full of great yummy things, then everyone does really well. If it's the opposite, it's very disappointing.”

“Even if it's a bit blunt, I really appreciate somebody being straight with you.”

“My father started his own business, and before that was a freelance lecturer, and my friends are artists and musicians; they don't have real jobs - none of us have real jobs.”

“Seeing, say, 'My Left Foot,' and 'The Last of the Mohicans.' How is that the same person? Or people like Johnny Depp, who can play Jack Sparrow and Edward Scissorhands. I am so interested in the transformation, in not knowing anything about them and watching somebody create a character. I'm not really interested in personalities.”

“I guess the reason I wanted to be an actor was that it felt like it would offer something different all the time.”

“Growing up in England, you're sort of spoiled, in a way. You sort of take it for granted that within a half-hour's drive, you could be walking around a stately home from the 1700s. It's not very hard to do - in California, you've got to take a flight!”

“I've never been to war, and I would never presume to fully understand the horrors that that kind of experience can impart.”

“I'm a bit of a technophobe.”

“I was bullied a lot... doing anything overly well was punished by the kids.”

“I think saying you're bad at something is rather wonderful because then it doesn't matter anymore.”

“You fire blanks, but the guns eject real brass, hot cartridges. They're, like, 400 degrees.”

“I find it easier to approach things from a critical angle that otherwise may seem daunting because I'm used to being scared.”

“I don't think the idea of working in Hollywood really exists anymore. I think you work in films, and where the film is shot is where it's shot. The studio system doesn't really exist.”

“My grandfather, who is English, was a member of a gentleman's club called the Caledonian, which you can only be a member of if you have Scottish lineage.”

“I really enjoy the fact that the very boring, normal person that I am isn't kind of interesting to anyone. It's fine by me.”