James Broadbent (born 24 May 1949) is an English actor.
It's funny how a film about a murderous old English toff can help you.
It's fatal to talk about acting. It sounds faintly ridiculous if you start analysing it.
I love a really good storyline.
I do always like to do things I haven't done before, so I'm always looking out for things in a different genre, or a different sort of character.
When you research someone, you actually get beyond your own preconceptions and become aware of the human being other than the image. You become empathetic and sympathetic in turn.
I like reflecting the culture I understand best, spotting the idiosyncrasies of British people and revealing them to an audience in a way that amuses is what I find fun.
To do a blockbuster that isn't stressful is a delight.
I love French films, and European films. They're not any bigger, but there's just a sort of definition, and a confidence, and strength to them. I'd always, given the option, go and see a French drama. Obviously, we probably get the better ones. But they're just sophisticated on many levels, and grown up, and quite profound - and we don't make films like that.
A make-up artist I know polished her Oscar and it lost its lustre. But if you don't polish it, it doesn't tarnish.
Sweet Jesus, war does terrible things to people.
In Hollywood films everything is tidied up at the end with clean lines and clean character definitions. It's sort of unsatisfying.
I'm not that comfortable with actors receiving honours, partly because I think they ought to go to those who really help others.
In fact I'd like to go back and live in Shakespeare's London.
We've all got a black book of missed opportunities.
People smile at me as if they know me. I just smile back. They probably might know me.
I think we all have a selfish gene which rises to the top, sometimes. But then we're also all capable of a sudden magnanimity.
In today's politics, it would be good to have politicians who are more upfront about what they felt and actually not trying to bend with every breeze. They're infuriating, all of them.
The films I enjoy seeing are those that reveal lives I was unaware of. . . in different cultures or whatever.
The world would be a duller place without Moulin Rouge.
I haven't got a writer's discipline.