There is some mysterious thing that goes on whereby, in the process of playing Shakespeare continuously, actors are surprised by the way the language actually acts on them.

If it`s good art, it`s good.

I only really cast people who are desperate to be in it - who were dying to be in it, whose talent I believed in and were dead ready to do the work that was necessary.

I certainly have been guilty of trying to sweep things under the carpet.

I made a bargain with myself. If I hadn`t done it by 35, I`d walk away. Hamlet is at a crisis at this point in his life. This is a young man`s play.

I think A Midsummer Night`s Dream would be terrific because of the transformations that occur. Or The Tempest, things like that. Extraordinary larger than life or supernatural element.

I like to cast actors I admire, one`s that are talented. Each one will bring something new to the part. This play has been done thousands of times and now certain characters are too familiar.

Music and language are a vital element. We, as actors and directors, offer it to people who want to experience it. Sometimes the actual meaning is less important than the words themselves.

The best actors, I think, have a childlike quality. They have a sort of an ability to lose themselves. There`s still some silliness.

In the hands of a great poet, words have ways of affecting us in ways we don`t understand.

The glory of 70mm is the sharpness of the image it offers.

One of the things that makes Hamlet unique among Shakespeare`s characters is his courage to face up to the darker elements of his personality.

The long version of the play is actually an easier version to follow. In all of the cut versions the intense speeches are cut too close together for the audience and the actors.

The elasticity of Shakespeare is extraordinary.

It`s quite hard for people to just accept that they`re very contradictory.

I don`t think Hamlet is mad, nor is he predisposed to be a gloomy or tragic figure.

I do think that, for instance, we`ve been very lucky to have theatrical careers and be associated with Shakespeare which sometimes gives you a kind of bogus kudos.

So many plays with magic in them that would be a terrific invitation to an imaginative animation team.

If you`ve done a brilliant version it becomes something else.

It`s very strange that the people you love are often the people you`re most cruel to.

I did not make this a long film for its own sake. I wanted to make an entertaining film and offer it out there for those who want to see it. If word of mouth suggests there is an audience out there, hopefully their cinema will show it.

Actors are the best and the worst of people. They`re like kids. When they`re good, they`re very very good. When they`re bad they`re very very naughty.

I watched a lot of musicals growing up.

I don`t know that there is too far, actually. I think there`s only too bad. If it`s bad you`ve gone too far.

We`re self obsessed and mad and stupid - not that other people can`t be the same way - but the extremes are kind of honest in some mad way. Anyway, I like them.

Friendship is one of the most tangible things in a world which offers fewer and fewer supports.

My definition of success is control.

I`m just a foul-mouthed Brit.

I think the best actors are the most generous, the kindest, the greatest people and at their worst they are vain, greedy and insecure.

I feel more Irish than English. I feel freer than British, more visceral, with a love of language. Shot through with fire in some way. That`s why I resist being appropriated as the current repository of Shakespeare on the planet. That would mean I`m part of the English cultural elite, and I am utterly ill-fitted to be.