uinterview.com [watch the video here], 10 November 2011
* Thanks, Maria

He's the Oscar winning actor-director who's latest film is My Week With Marilyn starring Michelle Williams.

Q: If Olivier were still alive as a resource when you were preparing for this role, what would you have asked him? - Rocsana Saddigh

A: What a brilliant question! Well, starting off, What was it like, sir? And what do you think of the movie? And what did you think starting off? Were you in love with her? Did you hate her all the way through? Did you come to hate her? Did you never hate her? And what do you think of her performance? And what was the secret? I'd love to have known what he thought was the secret of Marilyn Monroe and what did he feel about his own performance. I guess I would have said, Sir, you have an opportunity to vent now, please vent without end anything you need to about this entire experience and I shall make notes.

Q: Out of all of the roles you have performed on stage, big screen and small, which character most embodies your own personality? - Rocsana Saddigh

A: Well, the curious thing, this is sort of a contrary thing to say; the character of Hamlet in Shakespeare, which we made a film of and is one that I am intensely proud of, is a role played by thousands, tens of thousands of actors since the play was first written, and every time you see Hamlet, because it's an X-ray part that requires everything of the actor playing it, and it's a straight part, you know, you don't hide behind physical things or crazy makeup or whatever, it's a straight role. When any actor plays Hamlet, they reveal a vast amount of themselves. They're also trying to play the Prince of Denmark, there's no question, but it's an X-ray part that reveals to a large extent, who that actor is, and so, in a strange way, I think every actor, if they've had a chance to play Hamlet, in that performance, shows most of themselves, and I would say that would be true of the times that I've played Hamlet, as well. It's certainly a role that I was honored and awed to play, but am so intensely proud of.