Wherever you are in the world, whoever you are with, sometimes you feel desperately lonely.
Love whoever you want to love.
As I'm getting older, I feel like maybe I need to grow up a bit.
I did The 'Acid Test' at the Royal Court, by Anya Reiss, who's the most wonderful, amazing female writer. She was only 19 when she wrote it. She wrote it about three girls in a flat on a Friday night, and that was magic because it was so rare to have three girls in your age group in a play. It just doesn't happen.
My characters are always unlucky in love. It's annoying, but perhaps there is something in me that is suited to characters that have a darkness. Maybe it's why I play such damaged people when I'm not particularly damaged myself, I would say.
Peter Morgan's writing is so much about what you don't say: you're saying one thing but there's 10 other things going on, and those are the best writers like Chekhov... they're masters at a sort of naturalism, and yet there is all the subtext.
I've always been so uninterested in playing any kind of archetype of some pure, innocent, virginal woman. I just don't believe it.
When you see yourself on a 40-ft. screen. you go, 'Oh My God! I look so weird!'
I always go for the underdog or the rogue or the rebel.
You are what you think. I really believe that. And I don't think you ever stop doubting yourself.
My dad is a big extrovert - he's a doctor - but he always loved Shakespeare, and he took us to tons of theater.
I love the Sixties and all those iconic women, Bridget Bardot and things like that, so I tend to lean towards those sorts of things.
I always look at actresses who I most respect, and they make me think that you can make a choice in life. It's whether or not you choose to go down the route of publicising your personal life. I choose not to.
You should choose who you love.
Growing up, the image I had of Princess Margaret was completely different. I knew that she was a slightly tragic figure, but I didn't know why. Now, I love her with my all my heart. She was such an amazing person, and getting to 'know' her better was an honor.
To play anybody real and famous is very scary.
It's quite rare that you find something that you can quite literally have an absolute ball doing, as well as the tough stuff and the difficult stuff and the pain.
I've been really lucky to work with a lot of theater directors in the film, like Stephen Daldry on 'The Crown' and Richard Eyre on 'The Dresser.'
Just simple things - I like black and white, monochrome; I like suits.
My favourite thing is cooking for my friends. There are 13 of us who all met at university. They come round once a week, and I make a huge lasagne.
