Quotes from David Thewlis

That's one of the main things I've learned: honesty is paramount. The biggest thing I try and instil in my daughter. My deepest regrets have been to do with times that I've been dishonest. There's nothing worse than getting caught out in a lie. It's excruciatingly embarrassing.

I started doing the big Hollywood stuff, and I realised, 'Oh, there's no rehearsal at all; you just turn up on the set, and sometimes you haven't even met the other actor, or the woman who's playing your wife, and you're suddenly in bed with them.'

It was so boring, and 'Dragonheart' was so unchallenging - there was no research involved or any rehearsal. So I was in my hotel room every night with no English-language TV except 'Beavis and Butt-head' at 10 o'clock every night.

Before Anna, I'd had a few relationships and I'm glad I've been around a bit. I know where it's gone wrong or know who are the wrong people for me and who I might be wrong for.

I don't worry. I'm more stoical. Of course I have insecurities. I fear getting older. I fear death and illness. I'm not prone to depression, but I get depressed because everybody gets depressed. Suddenly I'm away from my family or doing a job I'm not enjoying.

And it was only released in London last week, so when I go back to England Monday or whatever, I am expecting heaps of adulation. I'm hoping there is. If that doesn't happen I will be disappointed.

I'm often cast as religious figures, good and bad, such as 'Kingdom Of Heaven.'

Most parts I've played since 'Naked,' I can barely remember who they were, let alone repeat any lines.

One can only improvise what one knows.

I had grown up in a toy shop in Blackpool and then moved to London to do an acting course.

You become judged entirely on your ability to bring in the dollars, and the fact that none of the films I did was a huge hit became significant.

I did 'Basic Instinct 2' because I had a baby about to be born, and the director said we could shoot before the due date.

Yeah, well that's the best thing about it, I think, is knowing kids and kids getting mental when they know you're in it. Any kid you meet and anyone I know tells the kid you're in it and they get short of breath.

For years, I've been mistaken for Rhys Ifans. All the time. People come up and say, 'Notting Hill?' I nearly got beaten up once for not being Rhys.

Dad worked in the same shop, behind the same counter, five or six days a week, for 38 years, and hated it.

I'd had a relationship with a French girl, a Japanese girl, an American girl, a Filippina and she was there all the time - a Lancashire girl. I thought: 'It's a Lancashire girl I was looking for. Why didn't I realize it?'

I met the Coens here a few years ago and they said they liked my work.

No matter what one looks at and finds temporarily pleasing, it can never be as beautiful as just a tree, really.

What is truth? What is a true story? Who is telling the truth, and what is truth in this world today?

I don't think they should trust anything that happens in 'Fargo' at all, and I'm sure 'Fargo' fans know not to make the mistake of trusting too much.

I often draw from people in my own experience to base a character on, going back to my days with Mike Leigh.

What we do is ridiculous! I think that even when what I'm doing is serious, even when I'm not turning into a werewolf. It's a silly thing to do, isn't it? It's what you do in the playground when you're kids - but actors just never stop doing it.

I think the most beautiful sound is a child laughing.

I am the sort of guy who does go to modern art shows.