I come from a working class community in eastern Scotland, and I’ve always been a populist, though not a patronising populist.

My mother Molly had a nervous breakdown after my father Chic died, aged 50. He was a very generous man who ran a shop in Dundee giving a lot of people tick. When he died, a lot of people hadn’t paid their bills, so he died with a lot of debt. After he died, my mother went doolally.

One might say science is the sum total of our knowledge of the universe, the great library of the known, but the practice of science happens at the border between the known and the unknown. Standing on the shoulders of giants, we peer into the darkness with eyes opened not in fear but in wonder.

The problem is that the U.K. in essence is a feudal society. It’s everyone in their place.

Every carbon atom in every living thing on the planet was produced in the heart of a dying star.

If people don’t have an understanding of what science is and what scientists do, then they can tend to think that global warming, for example, is just a matter of opinion.

What scientists are attached to is journeys into the unknown and discovering things that are completely unexpected and baffling and surprising.

Unlike New Zealand, which has nothing especially predatory, Australia is full of spiders and crocodiles and all kinds of animals that will eat you and sting you.

No one gets teased for being a geek anymore- science is the new rock n roll

People always make that mistake when they talk about theatre – the notion of the ‘theatrical‘ meaning something separate from life. If it doesn’t relate to life, it doesn’t relate to anything.

I used to do a lot of fencing in the theater and a lot of horse riding in the early days, so I’m used to it in a way. If you’re classically trained like I am, it’s a little bit like mother’s milk to me. I enjoy it.

I think I must be the only British actor who’s played both Stalin and Trotsky. I need to play Lenin so I can make it a triptych.

Deeper understanding confers that most precious thing – wonder.

Actors in general have become very spoiled in the roles they choose these days. When I first started in this profession – about a hundred years ago in the last century – it was all about taking risks, it was about doing the job and honing the craft.

Science is too important not to be a part of popular culture.

I enjoy acting now more than I ever have. I’ve had lots of difficult times when I was younger, but that was all tied up with thwarted ambition. It’s hard being a young actor, because you don’t realise until later that it’s only ever about doing the work.

Ah, there’s a director. Astonishing, Spike Lee. A feisty guy, but a guy who’s, I think, incredibly misunderstood. I think people review his politics or his color as opposed to his filmmaking sometimes. Because he’s a wonderful, wonderful filmmaker and a lover of the art.

The heritage of a British actor revolves around the challenges of playing the classic roles to meet certain levels of success as an actor. In America, the heritage of an actor is based on cinema mainly.

In science, there are no universal truths, just views of the world that have yet to be shown to be false.

The trouble with New York today is that it’s lost its balance. I love the new, greener New York, but it takes all kinds of worlds to make a World.

An explorer of the universe is sexier than a musician.

The hardest thing to do in movies is be a day-part player. You have to go in, make your mark, and get out. There’s a lot of leading actors who are not good for a lot of a movie, and then suddenly they have good moments, and they’re like stepping-stones across a particularly feisty stream. They build careers out of that.

Even the Australians don’t know how beautiful their own country is. Particularly where we were shooting ‘The Straits.’ Most of my stuff was done on an aboriginal settlement on the south shore, opposite Cairns, which I believe was the site where the last person was eaten in Australia.

I didn’t have this feeling that I should be a leading actor in the cinema. And I wouldn’t want the responsibility of the opening weekend.

There is a history of mental breakdowns in my family. It will never happen to me but it has happened to others in the family.

When we look out into space, we are looking into our own origins, because we are truly children of the stars.

I’ve always wanted to make a film.

The fact is that Hollywood, from as early as the sixties to the present time, has ghettoized cinema into the big industry, a marketing industry. In doing this, the audiences have lost touch with the aspects of film which were to be informative and educational and even spiritual.

The correct statement of individual rights is that everyone has the right to an opinion, but crucially, that opinion can be roundly ignored and even made fun of, particularly if it is demonstrably nonsense!

I’m 100% Celt. In fact, I’m directly related to the progenitor of the high kings of Ireland, Niall of the Nine Hostages.