Richard E. Grant

Always have an answer - even if you change your mind five minutes later.

You have to have some connection, empathy, or chemistry with the person you're playing and playing with.

Every time I try to plan something or assume that something's going to happen, it never works out like that.

I watch TV all the time. Everything.

My father died prematurely at the age of 52 when I was 24, and it is a recurring regret that he never lived to see me succeed beyond university and drama.

Time and time again I was told that I would never make the film on time and never make it on budget. That kind of criticism tends to turn me into a great big motor of efficiency.

Ensure that your script is watertight. If it's not on the page, it will never magically appear on the screen.

I always panic on the first day of work. You can do all the Stanislavsky-backstory homework, but when that moment arrives and you are in the clothes, hair, and makeup of somebody else, and you're saying the words created by somebody else - I never know how to do it. It's a complete mystery to me.

Actors always think that others are getting more work than them. In my case, they usually are.

I don't think it's the case that 'posh actors' get more work than others.