Quotes

To some degree Hollywood doesn't know what to do with me because the characters I do are so different. But hopefully that will give me longevity.

I feel so comfortable in an acting role, you know, as an actor. Maybe it's because I came into it late. If anything, I've felt frustrated that I can't carry a film because everything since District 9 (2009) has been supporting roles. I haven't found leads that I thought were good enough or there were twenty names ahead of me that will get the lead on a really good project.

[the challenge in playing 'Adrian', the mysterious baddie in Oldboy (2013)] It was finding the truth in that, taking somebody who could have been soft as a child and having him damaged by things that happened to him. That happens to everybody. This is obviously an extreme case. I think every soft child in the world gets damaged. All of of us come into the world and get damaged. It's just a matter of how much.

I'm not particularly fond of playing villains. I do want to be a working actor, and I've had to look at what was offered to me, what roles I could get, and what I could do with them. Even though I'm not drawn to putting those kinds of darker characters out there, I think it's an interesting challenge.

[How he got into 'Maleficent'] It came through my agents, and my agents gave me the script and said, "This is something going around town. A lot of people are going after it. You're probably not going to get in there." I was like, "Look, I really would love to do this." I went after it quite aggressively, in the sense of doing a tape. Actually, if I remember correctly, there was a delay because they thought it was going to someone else, but they were not sure. And then, as soon as they said, "We might be able to get your tape in there," I did it and they sent it.