Damian Lewis Quotes

We are not telling Tudor history; we are creating ' Wolf Hall ' from novels, which are already a rereading of Tudor history.

For me the rehearsal period is the part I most enjoy. It's the creating of the story.

I've always had a 'Work hard, play hard' attitude to life - I still do - but sometimes you get involved in something that needs a calm, methodical approach.

You know what it's like to feel anxious - it's horrible feeling anxious. It's stressful having that feeling, having butterflies in your stomach, even for a day, and you don't sleep at night.

You can't do something that is morally vacuous or dysfunctional and then write it off saying, 'It wasn't my film, I was just doing a job in it.'

I think people like to be scared. I think people like tension and suspense in a movie.

People need revelation, and then they need resolution.

My heroes were all in the theatre.

I think you can't be really posh and be an interesting actor. I'm a bit of a posh rough.

Temperamentally I'm not a natural producer, because I don't have the patience.

A cricket ball broke my nose when I was a kid so I couldn't breath through it. Before I had it operated on I used to stand on stage with my mouth slightly open.

It's an unfair comparison because when things are developed in the UK, they're developed at script stage only.

No Western government has ever played the long-term in terms of foreign policy.

I want to make a clear distinction between people who take acting seriously and people who call themselves actors because theyve been on reality TV or something.

My parents were incredibly inclusive.

Dramatically it's always more interesting to conceal rather than reveal things.

In the end, there's something of the puritan work ethic about me that roles really must sustain me on an intellectual level.

I've done classical theaters. I played Hamlet myself and Romeo.

Theres something important, as an actor, about allowing yourself to be approached by people to do roles. People see different things in you.

You have to go where the good writing is.

Acting can be a narrow and isolated experience, because you only examine your particular part.

I don't mean this grandly, but it was never my intention to live in L.A. and do a big network show.

You just have to take control of your own performance.

The best shows succeed because they tap into a national conversation.

It's good to be busy on a film set because there is a lot of sitting around, so if you've got two roles to play at one time, then that's great to do.

I've had loss in my life, and I like to think my mother's energy lives on in some faintly Buddhist way. I do find some comfort there.

I have a three-year-old and a four-year-old at home, and my mornings are about just dealing with the fact of that. I oddly enjoy it.

I don't believe Jesus was the son of God, although I'm inclined to think he might have been a great prophet.

Seeing a man praying to Allah is enough for some people to assume he is a terrorist.

I guess I'm just good at playing repressed individuals. I'm lucky because those are often the roles that catch people's eyes.

I love going for a swim. Growing up in England, anywhere with a pool seems like the height of glamour to me.

I love playing sport.

I was, if you like, a successful schoolboy in that I had a degree of talent in all the required things that make you a success at school.

In England we burnt redheads at the stake, because we thought they were witches. There are still young redheads in Britain getting ripped for having red hair. 'Oy, Ginger!'

You know, I think I am faintly spiritual.

It's sad that children don't spend enough time looking around and being amazed by what's in the real world.

If you believe - which I do - that acting is a bit like advocacy for your character, then of course I want to find the positive points.