Quotes

I get on fine with my mum and dad, but if they want to see the grandchildren, they come to me.

I was always told at school that you had to have a back-up plan, but all I ever wanted to do was act. There was no plan B for me.

I don't marry myself into any genre. I ride on the back of the filmmaker and the character. I have to feel that character. I have to believe that character.

[on his costume for the Avengers] Because it's so early on [in the character development], I'm more of a civilian, more like Eastern European traveler picking up clothes as we go along. The way that we've designed picking out the costumes is with that thought in mind. Some of the things I wear is a lot more sporty, long-sleeve, a cycle top, compression T-shirts and things like that, to show that kind of physique and get a sense and idea of it.

[on the impressive physicality of co-star Chris Hemsworth] You look around the room and the only one who has an essentially otherworldly superhero physique is Chris Hemsworth. The size of his arms is like the size of my thighs. Just to be an actor and transform your physique and body to that level, essentially he's a God, and he's 6 foot 4, but he's such a great guy. Everyone is charming and brilliant, and a lot of fun, but you look around the room and you go 'well that guy is definitely the superhero'.

[on his facial hair being compared to that of a Hasidic Jew] That was nice because I have really curly hair and also I'm Jewish.

[2014; on spending time with his children] I love the fucking music class. I'm the only dad there. It's, like, mums and nannies. And you're clapping your hands. You're singing more than the kids are.

[2014; on not being cast by wife Sam Taylor-Johnson in 50 Shades of Grey] I think it would have been the wrong kind of hype to bring towards us. It would have been kind of funny that this character that all these women fancy - he's one in a million - and my wife picks her husband to play the part? I would love to have done something together again, but it would not have been Fifty. We were both on the same page. I will watch the movie, though!

Jake [Gyllenhaal] is analytical and looks at things from every angle. He likes to be particular.

Before the shoot [of Nocturnal Animals], I started smoking and drinking hard liquor, lots of Bourbon. I wanted to look toxic from the inside out. I'd stay in character or I would at least stay in accent, that's for sure, because I didn't want to lose the West Texas thing.

[2014] It was a lot of crazy shit I got up to for a couple years. I was pretty self-destructive at one point. I used to smoke 30 [cigarettes] a day, used to fucking drink non-stop. I've always been able to be on the fucking edge - be on the line, but then pull myself back... [on how he used to pretend to be American when he went for, only revealing his true background afterwards] [There were] some interesting movies but a lot of TV. A lot of Nickelodeon bullshit. It was kind of like learning how to pull. It was like, how do you go into a bar and point out the fittest girl and then just go, 'I'll have her by the end of the night?' I was at that age where that was kind of... I stopped when I met [wife] Sam.