Quotes from Asa Butterfield

When you have a book as material as it is, it's a lot easier to create a character because you have so many resources to draw upon when acting.

I think having a character piece is great. It will challenge you and be different.

That was the most important thing to me: making sure 'Gardner Elliot' was likeable and funny and interesting. I took my time before filming to chat with Peter, the director, to create this character.

The whole celebrity culture is super weird, but I'm part of it for some reason, and you kind of have to be as an actor to be successful.

My theory. Music can fix anything. Anything.

I never wanted to be home-schooled. I didn't like the idea of being home-schooled. It would only separate myself even further from the real world, and that's never what I wanted.

I just read the scripts that come to me, and I see the ones which I really kind of understand and connect with, whether that's a science fiction or a period piece. It doesn't really matter as long as they're original and I have something to do with the character.

For me, I value connection a lot, talking to people and connecting. Don't get me wrong: I enjoy having my own time, but I think it's really important to have that connection, so living on Mars would be a struggle for me.

For me, not just the character of 'Ender', but the whole world is so beautifully crafted in the novel that I wasn't sure how it could be brought to the screen - but Gavin has done it justice, and he's done it amazingly.

When you're working in the industry, and you're working with people who are well known and are so regarded, you do just pick up on things. Talking to people and hearing their stories, you learn a lot.

When you're acting, you do have to prepare yourself for doing that. You have to leave behind - or you try and leave behind - anything that's going on in your personal life.

As an actor, depending on who you are, you might be stopped on the street and might not get all the privacy you want, but I'd rather have that than no human connection whatsoever.

Whilst I've got these opportunities, and whilst I still love doing it, acting is something I can see myself continuing forever until I get bored of it.

I've pretty much always had the same haircut my entire life.

I managed to stay grounded and when I wasn't working, I was hanging out with my friends so I was still able to be a kid and have that part of my life. I didn't let acting take over completely.

I always think that trying to push yourself as an actor in a direction that you've never been before, developing characters which are more difficult to get into the head of, or are more interesting and further away from yourself, is always a challenge. But, you want to take up that challenge and try your best.

I don't like to set myself goals because then you might fail to reach them. I just go with the flow.

I'd really likely to shoot wildlife documentaries. I watched so many of those as a child, and I'm quite into wildlife and love photography as well, so that's something I'd like to do.

I always think that trying to push yourself as an actor in a direction that you've never been before, developing characters which are more difficult to get into the head of, or are more interesting and further away from yourself, is always a challenge.

I've been in a few films that have been adapted and, as an actor, the amount of resources and things you can gain just from reading the story, as well as the script, are so massive that it's something you just can't put down.

When things don't go your way, you brush it aside and carry on. Don't take what you have for granted. Enjoy what you have.

It wasn't until I did 'Hugo' where I sort of started to think that this could be something that I do for a long time - not necessarily the rest of my life, but we'll see.

I watched films growing up, but no more than the next guy, really. Working on 'Hugo' made me appreciate cinema and the art of cinema a lot more.

I've played a worrying number of orphans, children who have been abandoned or had something terrible happen to them.