Quotes

The English people, a lot of them, would not be able to understand a word of spoken Shakespeare. There are people who do and I’m not denying they exist. But it’s a far more philistine country than people think.

“And I always thought the biggest failing of Americans was their lack of irony. They are very serious there! Naturally, there are exceptions…the Jewish, Italian, and Irish humor of the East Coast.” (Italian Vogue)

[Talking about his success in playing the two Mr. Darcy roles] “I was delighted to become a popular-culture reference point. I’m still delighted about it actually, and I still find it to be weird.”

Forget “trying” to be sexy. That’s just gruesome.

“If I want my career to go on, I’m going to have to find some more Fiennes brothers! However, any similarity between them basically stops at their last name. I was in no way reminded of Ralph by working with Joe. I got on fantastically with both of them. I have huge admiration for them as actors but I couldn’t compare them.” (on losing the girl to both Ralph and Joe Fiennes)

“Well it doesn’t exactly have a ring to it, does it? It’s more the sort of name you’d give to your goldfish for a joke.” [about his first name]

I have a kind of neutrality, physically, which has helped me. I have a face that can be made to look a lot better or a lot worse, depending on how I want it to look.

The first actor who really blew me away was Paul Scofield in [the movie] A Man for All Seasons (1966). I’d never seen such integrity in acting, and it struck me as a fascinating paradox because acting is artifice. It can be argued to be entirely false. I thought, how can an actor suggest such truth?

I like playing strange characters. Some people might say it has something to do with a hidden part of myself, but I think it’s a lot simpler than that: normal people are just not very interesting.

Every single film since [Pride and Prejudice] there’s been a scene where someone goes, ‘Well I think you’ve just killed Mr Darcy’. But he is a figure that won’t die. He is wandering somewhere. I can’t control him. I tried to play with it in Bridget Jones. I’ve never resented it: if it wasn’t for him I might be languishing, but part of me thinks I should do this postmodern thing, change my name by deed poll to Mr Darcy. Then people can come up to me and say, ‘But you are not Mr Darcy’ which would be different. I dare say it will be my saving grace when the only employment available to me is opening supermarkets dressed in breeches and a wig.

I feel quite strongly about anti-Americanism. I share people’s grievances about the current Administration but I remember my father and I watching the Watergate hearings. Here was a country arraigning its own leaders. America has a fantastic history of dissent. (Sept. 2007)

[On the appeal he has to older female fans] I find I’m increasingly lusted after by people beyond pensionable age. I was told of a woman in hospital, diagnosed with high blood pressure, who was told not to watch any more ‘Pride and Prejudice’. She was 103.

[Of the movie version of 'Mamma Mia' in which he stars] If you are the kind of person who always wanted to see middle aged men in tight spandex trying to sing, then this is the film for you.

[About filming Mamma Mia] This was quite terrifying, because the guys in this film were really out of their comfort zone with the singing thing. And you know, the first thing we did was to record our songs, because you pre-record before you shoot the film. And then you have to shoot it live, which a lot of it was, and it was the fearsome Benny and Björn of ABBA, and they were notorious hard customers, and they booked me three days in the studio to sing a three-minute song. So my mind was reeling with images of myself, you know, floods of Ambian-fueled tears, while I was being shouted out in Swedish by bearded men. But, fortunately, when I met them, they were friendly. There was something in their friendliness that had a reserve to it. I thought, “I’m going to be friendly as long as I’m not crappy.” And then half an hour later, they were actually ok. Pierce Brosnan and Stellan walked in and I looked at their faces, I was staring into a vortex of fear, both of them in spirals. And nothing bonds you more than blind terror really. Within a few more minutes, the three of us were like the Andrews Sisters around the mike, you know.

Actors are basically drag queens. People will tell you they act because they want to heal mankind or, you know, explore the nature of the human psyche. Yes, maybe. But basically we just want to put on a frock and dance.