"If it’s not going to be that serious, I don’t want to do it. It’s a personal taste. I don’t like watching an actor have the same fucking hairdo from time period to time period, from character to character—I just think it’s bullshit. It’s a waste of money and a waste of my time as an audience member."

"I get a very deep sense that the generation after Generation X is a very conservative generation, and I’m not sure they understand the commitment part of what I do."

"It was a 100 percent fucking home run, except the central character of William Shakespeare was not a fucking writer—he was not smelly enough, he was not unshaven enough, and obviously hadn’t had enough to drink. He was some prissy pretty boy. What the fuck? That’s so disrespectful."

And you had in mind a smelly, unshaven, drunk guy you thought could do it?

"Yeah, I wanted to see that grizzly fucker. I wanted to see him flower. I wanted to see him blossom under the fact of love. I wanted to see where the sonnets came from. They came from the same pen of despair that wrote Timon of Athens—I wanted to see that guy. I wanted to see that guy with the sensibilities of a man that could create a body of work that would last century after century. I wanted to see that."

And you wanted to be that?

"I wanted to play that character. I loved the script. I mean, it was an incredibly well observed script about actors. That’s why I thought it was so cool."

Do you still think your version would have been better?

"[laughs] By fucking miles, mate. What are you talking about?"