Quotes by Robert Carlyle

I often have scripts sent to me with allegedly Scottish characters where I end up telling them, 'You're going to have to rethink this whole thing!'

Anyone that knows me knows what I’m about, and I’m very much a British actor, a European actor.

I have a reputation for being an improvisational actor, which is true, but I also know what I’m doing so that if the improvisational strand doesn’t work I can go back to what I know’s already there.

Each performance and each film is what it is. It’s right and belongs within that moment. You look at it and try to make it fit your particular part of your character and your particular film.

The script will point you in certain directions and I go the opposite if I can. I try do do one thing and tell a different story with my eyes. I believe what’s more interesting is always what’s not being said.

I used to be a rabid reader, but now it’s scripts or nothing – network television is quite relentless, and you can’t drop the ball.

I don’t take a great deal of interest in party politics. Social politics interests me a great deal more.

I’ve never been good at accepting jobs six months down the line. I can’t do it. If I’m thinking about this, I can’t think about that. So I always seem to fly by the seat of my pants.

Early days, I was a bit racked, particularly when I did Hitler, for CBS. That was hellish. That stayed with me for quite a long time.

I don’t want to be a luvvie actor. It took a long time for me to accept I was an actor, a professional actor, and that, actually, I make a living out of this.