I’m possibly a very morbid person but I think about death a lot.

I’m not clumsy, I’m just accident prone.

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...

Some actresses are just insane. I’ve never worked with a nasty actress – they’re all absolutely delightful. But completely barking.

I was fortunate enough to meet Sophie Dahl. And I’m slightly in love with Scarlett Johansson: she’s just stunning. And she’s bright, which is incredibly sexy.

I’m very interested in religion as something to study, but I’m not a religious person in the slightest.

If I die on a film set when I’m 80, I’ll be happy with that.

I think I’m a tiny bit like Harry ‘cos I’d like to have an owl. Yeah, that’s the tiny bit, actually.

I really wanted to be good at it.

I think of myself as being Jewish and Irish, despite the fact that I’m English.

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...

Religion leaves no room for human complexity.

I don’t think I’d have the stamina, skill or ability to write a novel, but I’d love to write short stories and poetry, because those are my two passions.

I love Steve Carell and Will Ferrell – they’re my heroes.

I love it. Until recently, I’d seen a peek of it in the catalogue but not actually seen the real thing. It was strange seeing myself as I was two years ago, not as I...

I think one of my favorite things to do is just lock myself up in a small room and listen to music and watch films for a day. Also I just like seeing my friends....

Normally I sit there in the films really hating watching myself. Loving watching the films, hating watching myself.

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...

Fans are really important for me. And if they take pains to write me, it’s the minimum that I answer myself.

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...

Part of an actor’s job is to find correlations between your own life and the life of the person you are playing.

It’s been an odd five years, but it’s been great,

Being self-critical is good; being self-hating is destructive. There’s a very fine line there somewhere, and I walk it carefully.

As far as I can tell, most actors’ main motivation is self-doubt and neuroses.

My parents are left-wing, and I would describe myself as that. But also, you know what? I wouldn’t describe myself as that. Because I don’t have to. Because I’m not a political party. Most people...

I’ve worked every day since I was 10. I don’t know how to do anything else. There is nothing else I’d rather be doing.

My mom and dad were actors when they were younger and had a horrible experience of it. My dad became a literary agent and my mom a casting director.

He talked about it having a central spine with these little offshoots, I guess you’d call them nerve-endings, coming off it, … These little other strands that he kept reiterating, in which every scene had...

There’s no shame in enjoying a quiet life. And that’s been the realization of the past few years for me.

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.

Fame is damaging when people become reliant on it for their sense of self, and their identity, when fame is linked to how you see yourself.

I mean I’ve seen 3D films so far and I think it’s a long way to go before they replace actors. It’s a funny thing with 3D, I haven’t quite got it yet. Yet.

I take things in better when I’m allowed to talk, and respond, and engage and move around a bit.

I think I’m highly normal. I’m attending school after acting, I’m going out with friends, going to the cinema – I’m just doing everything a normal teenager does. People think I can’t leave the house...

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,...

Stage is much more intimidating than going before the cameras, because you can really screw up, and can’t do a retake.

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...

I am a frighteningly thorough person.

I have a very busy personality.

You pick projects for the part, the director, and the script. I just want to do different, interesting stuff.

We’re now old enough to appreciate scenes being analyzed and broken down,

I’m also a fan of ridiculously coloured and patterned socks.

Dane DeHaan, certainly, is kind of the best friend I’ve made through acting, in terms of another actor. He’s fantastic.

I meet hundreds of people, and I’m not going to remember them. But every single one of them will remember their interaction with me.

It’s almost a problem how much I enjoy my work.

My parents were what I like to call proper musical fans. Lots of Sondheim was played in the car.

The fourth one was incredibly, much more so, much more physical than the first ones. It’s I think simply the nature of the book that its got those 3 massive tasks in it.

I’m not clumsy, I’m accident-prone!

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...

I’m 5-foot-5, and I’ll wear a big parka and put the hood up, and nobody gives me a second glance.