Actors do tend to get pigeonholed. People want to know who you are so they can put you in a box. It's lovely to be known for such diametrically opposite roles.

It's like playing tennis, you play a different rally with different people. Every actor is different and the chemistry between actors is different.

My father and I used to tussle about me becoming an actor. He's from strong, Presbyterian Scottish working-class stock, and he used to sit me down and say, 'You know, 99 percent of actors are out of work. You've been educated, so why do you want to spend your life pretending to be someone else when you could be your own man?'

Everythings a choice. Nobody's born good. Nobody's born evil. It's always a choice.

If you are at a boys' school, especially, there is a level of bravado that you have to keep up otherwise you'll get picked on.

If the Loki in 'Thor' was about a spiritual confusion - 'Who am I? How do I belong in this world?' - the Loki in 'Avengers' is, 'I know exactly who I am, and I'm going to make this world belong to me.'