Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I'm somebody who is very, very proud to have been a part of the British film industry all my life and to have kind of been involved with a very important piece of British film history.
In my experience of doing physical scenes, half of your energy is spent on trying to get the other actor to enter into it physically with you. Most actors don't want to hurt each other.
I know it wouldn't seem like I've had a lot of failure in my career, but there are things that I regard as failures, when I look at certain performances and go, 'That's not good enough.'
I don't think of those things [from farting, to male on male affection, to crossdressing] as being taboo, I suppose, so it didn't strike me as, "Oh, I'm breaking boundaries and stuff..."
If you spent a proper amount of time with me, you would probably wonder if I was on drugs - I'm not. I'm just incredibly hyperactive and manic. I can be quiet and serious at the same time.
When I get into trouble at school I'd like to take an invisibility cloak, drape it over me and sneak out the door. Or I'd like to have a 3 headed-dog because then no one would argue with me.
I think I have just always had an awareness that when you go to a premiere and people start cheering and shouting your name and stuff, they are shouting at a perception of you that they have.
Those things [t hydraulic penises and prosthetic butts and all that] can be what's genuinely shocking about the movie [Swiss Army Man] because people wouldn't expect to be moved by any of it.
I definitely want to have kids. I've grown up around lots of people who were having kids when I knew them, because a lot of them were a lot older than me. And I saw the wonderful change in them.
Yes, gay marriage is about symbolically blessing a relationship, but the larger issue is about transmitting a fundamental message about equality. Gay people should have equality in law everywhere.
Ironing boards are a classic example of something I find horrible about modern society: the excitementation, for want of a better word, of mundane things. Funny ironing board covers - I hate them.
I pretty much left full-time, formal education when I was 11, so that was when I was taken out of the school system... The longest stretch I would go back for was a term and a half when I was about 14.
The real challenge of acting for me, I suppose, is just getting to know a character very, very well and just applying what I know about them to every single scene. That's what it can be broken down to.
I know me, and I know that I'm not somebody that particularly merits a lot of screaming and shouting. And there's nothing special about me as opposed to hundreds of thousands of other people everywhere.
To be honest, I would like to have worked with Peter Sellers, because when people talk about classic British actors, you talk about Lawrence Olivier, and Peter Sellers was just in the most amazing films.
I grew up around gay people my entire life, basically, that’s possibly why I’m quite camp, and some people think I’m gay when I meet them, which I think is awesome. It’s always good to keep them guessing.
I always saw Michael Gambon wearing madly psychedelic socks, and I always thought that's it is one of the few areas where men can really express colour and have a bit of a dandyish quality to their outfit.
My job to make sure that thing is kick-ass - takes the mold, jumps on it, throws glitter all over it, smashes it, kicks it around, and drops the mic. If we don't do that, then we deserve not to have a hit.
What I love about the gay thing is that every single person I type into Google, it doesn't matter if it's Florence Welch, anybody, if you are not being called gay you don't have a career. That's my theory!
I pretty much left full-time, formal education when I was 11. So that was when I was taken out of the school system... I think the longest stretch I would go back for was a term and a half when I was about 14.
I'm not an easy person to love. There are lots of times when I'm a very good boyfriend, but there are times when I'm useless. I mean, I'm a mess around the house. I talk nonstop. I become obsessed with things.
I think it would be very hard to go out with an actress, because they're mad. Some actresses are just insane. I've never worked with a nasty actress - they're all absolutely delightful. But completely barking.
I don't know where my romanticism comes from. My mom and dad would read to me a lot. 'Treasure Island,' 'Robinson Crusoe,' tales of chivalry and knights, things like that. Those are the stories I loved growing up.
Obviously, I've been very lucky in general in my career, but I feel that I've been very lucky in terms of having directors come along at the right times who have taken me to the next level of where I needed to be.
I absolutely don't relate to being beaten down my whole life - I had amazing opportunities at a young age - but there is still in many, many people's minds the notion that I'll never be able to escape Harry Potter.
Also I just think I've been lucky enough to have great parents, and I've had good people around me who have always been honest with me, who would give me a purely metaphorical slap if I ever got too big for my boots.
I'm never going to be in something as commercially successful as 'Harry Potter' ever again. It's impossible. So that gives me incredible freedom to go off and make the slightly off-the-wall films that I want to make.
England is my home. London is my home. New York feels like, if I have to spend a year living in an unfamiliar city, this is a pretty lovely one to spend a year in, but I will be going home at the end of it, certainly.
There is always this thing of will you get too old for your part? But people are playing a lot younger than they actually are in real life. I don't think it's as big an issue as a lot of people are making it out to be.
I just moved into the world of Xbox Live. And I've discovered that everyone on the Internet is a lot better than me. I spent half an hour the other day designing a boxer, and I got knocked out twice in the first round.
When you're seventeen to early twenties, that's the time you're trying to work out who you are. If you're trying to make some kind of artistic or creative impact, that's the age when you start to figure out how to do that.
That's why I don't understand why actors become arrogant and are completely unapproachable - because as an actor, the most valuable thing you can do is talk to people and hear their stories, because it'll all come in handy.
I had to smile when stories emerged questioning whether I was gay. Obviously I knew I wasn't but people were curiously desperate to suggest I was ... when you know a gay guy has a crush on you, it's the most flattering thing.
Who are the executives, and what are the stories that are being released? Not just in movie theaters but online. When you watch Master of None, you're like, yes, this is real life to me. These are refreshing types of stories.
People tell me I look mournful. They say, 'Cheer up, Dan, it's not that bad!' Sometimes I just look into space, which freaks people out. If I was ever required to do anything other than look haunted, I could. I'm a happy person.
People tell me I look mournful. They say, "Cheer up, Dan, it's not that bad!" Sometimes, I just look into space, which freaks people out. If I was ever required to do anything other than look haunted, I could. I'm a happy person.
I definitely think that theatre is something I'll keep coming back to in my career for as long as I can. I also think theatre's something you have to be very fit to do. I am fairly fit, but I don't think I could do it all the time.
I have quite a rich inner life, and I'm constantly looking for a way to express that. I haven't found it yet in acting. When you're playing a character, you're only going to find outlets for very specific parts of your inner world.
The best thing I've learned is, if you're going out, never go out alone - you leave yourself vulnerable. If you've got someone else there you trust, they can say, be wary of that person. I probably used to be too trusting of people.
I think any man who says he has never had an awkward moment with a girl, is a liar or he's delusional because he's sitting there thinking he is doing really well and the girl is thinking "Who is this man and why is he talking to me?"
I've always thought that as long as directors and casting directors don't see me as just Harry Potter, I'll be OK. People have shown a lot of faith in me, and I owe them a huge debt. They're letting me prove that I'm serious about this.
I think it's useful, as a famous person, to have as little separation between the perception of you and how you really are - because otherwise I'd be sitting here thinking I'm keeping secrets, and wondering when you're going to find out.
The art world can be very intimidating because it's just so vast. You talk to people who are really clued in to all the young artists and coming into it you're never going to be able to catch up immediately, even though there's pressure to.
When you're in the position I'm in, you have two options: you can either shut yourself off from everybody, from the world, and not live a full life. Or you welcome everybody into your life and occasionally somebody will try to take advantage.
I know I'm not a coal miner, but I do long hours and I never complain, and there is nowhere else I'd rather be. So, yeah, that's how I'd define myself. I want to do it right, and prove people wrong once and for all about the myth of child stars.
I was very sad to leave Harry Potter but equally there will be an element of excitement about the idea that a script might come in and I don't have to go: "I'm sorry, I'm kind of busy for the next four years." The idea of that is quite exciting.
Once Now You See Me proved that that tone could work, which I'm sure was a nightmare for them in post - is this too serious? Do we have to say that magic really does exist or not? - I can take that and have fun with the tone that they established.
If I was left to my own devices, you would see about ten T-shirts in rotation with maybe a few nice pairs of jeans - but I also like to look good. I like feeling really well put together, I just don't have the aptitude and the knowledge to do that.
There is something inherently valuable about being a misfit. It's not to say that every person who has artistic talent was a social outcast, but there is definitely a value for identifying yourself differently and being proud that you are different.
It's interesting for myself, growing up as an Asian-American filmmaker. Coming into the industry, my parents always said, "No one's going to give you the opportunity. You just have to do the work. Be better than everyone else, so they can't deny it."