My whole history of being an actor is unusual and slightly disgraceful because it should be something you burn to do.

Most actors really love it, that's what they want to do. They burn to do it. And so they'll read a script and think, that's an interesting part. And because they love acting, that blinds them to the fact that the rest of it is pretentious nonsense, which it very often is.

And I particularly like the whole thing of being boss. Boss and employee... It's the slave quality that I find very alluring.

There were various turning points, but the main one at the beginning was that I was going off to do another degree in the history of art. I would have ended up as some art historian at Sotheby's or something.

I slightly lost my enthusiasm for most acting, but I've done some little bits and pieces - curiosities.

I think that's the whole point of Bridget Jones. It's all about that it's okay to fail.