On the sudden fame that resulted after_Empire of the Sun (1987)_: "I enjoyed making the film, but I was shocked when I received all the attention when I got home to Bournemouth. Girls were all over me, boys wanted to fight me, and I was being asked to open local fetes when all I wanted to do was ride my BMX bike in the woods. I told my parents I wasn`t interested in doing anything again because the attention ruined it."

An actor should never be larger than the film he`s in. (Spin, March 96)

You can`t help but find that violence is endlessly fascinating-and I mean true violence, not action-movie violence, just because it is used as the answer to so many problems. We`re all taught as kids not to be violent, but you can`t help but also see that violence is what works very often. Bullies thrive.

[On filming Batman films during the summer]: "I`m not really looking forward to wearing a black rubber suit in the summertime in humid Chicago. If you see a pool of sweat through the city, follow it and you will find me."

I tend to think you`re fearless when you recognize why you should be scared of things, but do them anyway.

For me, there`s a bigger risk trying Batman. Ultimately, the big point was that Chris Nolan [Memento], who you would not expect to be doing that kind of movie, was going to direct it, which is exactly what I was looking for, because you want to do something totally different from the other Batman movies. I always thought there could be a really good movie made about Batman and when I heard that Chris was doing it I thought, `Well, he`s not a director that you would expect, therefore you`re going to get the unexpected from him.` I think there`s a great potential for going very dark with it, it`s a fascinating character, very complex psychologically, which I`ve never seen done. You know, you have the two extremes, which are both very good. You can either go the very camp Adam West TV series thing, which was great in its own way, or you can go more the way of the graphic Dark Knight novels which delve somewhat deeper.

On Batman Begins (2005): "I`ve never felt like the Batman character in the films was given as much time as any of the villains. The villains were always the most interesting characters, too. Batman has always been this very bizarre, almost blind character running through the middle of the story. Our film is different."

On dealing with the resulting media attention of Empire of the Sun (1987) at age 13: "It was horrific. I was almost crying in interviews and running away during press conferences, pretending I was going to the bathroom and just disappearing."

I`ve had some painful experiences in my life, but I feel like I`m trivializing them by using them for a scene in a movie. I don`t want to do that. It just makes me feel kind of dirty for having done that.

An actor should never be larger than the film he`s in.

We are starting off with our own different characters and our own laws and everything, looking at Bruce Wayne and how he came to be the person that he was and how he comes to be this man that jumps around in the Bat suit.

But I enjoyed getting sick, I didn`t mind it at all. So in that short amount of time, I did actually go from 121 right back up to 180, which is way too fast obviously. And that resulted in some doctors visits to get things sorted out.

And being as I`m somebody who loves movies like The Machinist, I also love going along to big mass entertainment movies. I get in the mood for all kinds of movies, and so I like to try each of them.

Essentially, I`m untrained, so I just go with my imagination and try to put myself as solidly as I can into the shoes of whatever person I`m going to be playing.

I spent about three weeks in Chicago last July doing night shoots. It`s a great city, but the humidity was tough under the Batsuit. Uh, it got a little bad. It`s hot enough in the Batsuit, let alone in the Chicago heat.

It`s not who I am underneath but what I do that defines me.

Obviously there are times with acting when exactly what is required is just going through the motions, and when doing nothing is the best thing. But at other times, you have to make that leap beyond the immediate environment of people putting up lights on the set.

My hope is that people will be repulsed by the character`s complete lack of ethics and obsession with consumerism - that`s what I was saying about the difference between the character`s message and the film`s message.

At first, I was somewhat hesitant to do the role. I mean, after all, Batman is an icon. But I remember, as clear as day, being at the grocery store the day the movie opened, and this little boy saw me. He couldn`t have been more than five years old. He just walked right up to me and hugged me. He hugged me, and I was so moved by it that I hugged him back. Then he looked up at me and said You`re my hero." And in that moment, I knew that not only as an actor that I had done my job, but that I had made the right decision to play Batman. And I`ve never looked back on my the decision to play Batman since."- On his decision to play Batman

It`s about pursuing it rather than waiting to see what comes along. That`s partly because I found myself getting typecast, as everyone does unless they pursue roles that are very different from what they`ve done before.

All of the muscles were gone, so that was a real tough time of rebuilding all of that. But you have a deadline, you have an obligation. You`ve said that you will commit to this part, and I just can`t live with myself for not really giving it as much as I can.

But after having done American Psycho and Shaft, I found it a breath of fresh air to play somebody who`s completely human in terms of his emotions.

I think there`s a kind of pretentiousness to the idea that serious work is only found in low-budget independent movies-I can`t stand that snobbery.

I went backwards and forwards over it until I was 22. And then in the past few years I began to say to myself, OK, look, I`m not messing around. This is something I want to attack, instead of thinking, I`ll just see what happens with it.

I had spent weeks staring at the wall in my house out of depression because of things that had gone wrong and the choices I had made. When I read The Machinist, I just went, `Wow! This is perfect.` I was having dreams about the character and I couldn`t stop thinking about it. I felt like this one was going to save my arse, and pull me out of the depressed state I had got into.

When it comes to films, people often don`t differentiate between the message of a bad central character and the message of the film itself. They are two separate things.

I have a fear of being boring.

On his 63 pound weight loss for the movie "The Machinist" (_Maquinista, El (2004)_): "I had a stupid kind of feeling of invincibility, like, `I can do it, I can manage it.` I really did feel like I hit this point of enlightenment".

I don`t personally look to my own life experiences for answers about how to play a scene.

[on being asked if he knew how big of a flop Newsies was] You say something bad about Newsies and you have an awful lot of people to answer to.

If everyone really knew what a jerk I am in real life, I wouldn`t be so adored in the slightest.

Our Batman is centered on the early days. It`s an explanation. It`s certainly not Batman No. 5. It`s a reinvention. We want you to forget there has ever been a Batman before this one.

You`re creating a different world and the actor`s job is to be able to convince the audience to enter into that world, whether it be actually something that you recognize from your own life or not.

[Describing director Christopher Nolan`s method for filming Batman]: "We tend to shoot at night like some kind of covert operation. So, we have minimal people actually seeing me in that way."

On Batman Begins (2005), which is in no way a low-budget film: "I contacted them. I heard they were doing some low-budget Batman not aimed at kids and I was tantalized. I had appreciated the Batman movies, but I wasn`t really a fan and I didn`t know the TV series. But I read some of the graphic novels, and they were very dark and very interesting."

At the time that Chris Nolan asked me to do it [Batman Begins] I actually couldn`t do one push-up. They sent me to a trainer, who was having to hold my T-shirt at the back just to pull me up. I`ve come a long way from that.

I only sound intelligent when there`s a good script writer around.

I don`t think I`m like any of the characters I`ve played- they`re all really far from who I am.

I think trying too hard to be sexy is the worst thing in the world a woman can do.

No, only disappointment in myself on those occasions I didn`t manage to rise to the occasion as I felt I should`ve done. I can always see how to do it, and then the challenge is, Can I manage that each and every day?

The only thing that I`m obsessed with is sleeping and, actually, it is more than an obsession, it is a pleasure. I love sleeping so much that I could do it 12 hours a day if I didn`t have to turn on the alarm clock...and still, sometimes...

On his transformation into Patrick Bateman for American Psycho (2000): "The character is so vain and obsessed with his looks. While the psychology of the character was something that I could perform, you can`t fake the physicality. Being English, I tend to enjoy going down to the pub far more than going to the gym, so it was very unnatural for me. I just had to convince myself that I loved it, which was the most difficult thing about playing this part. Working out is incredibly boring. I swear its true that the bigger your muscles get, the fewer brain cells you have. I found I had to stop thinking when I was in the gym because if I thought about it, I`d realize how ridiculous it was that I was pumping iron when I could`ve been out having a drink and a cigarette and enjoying some lunch. I did three hours a day for six weeks with a personal trainer and some time before that. I ate an awful lot during training and then almost nothing during filming."

I don`t think I`m like any of the characters I`ve played - they`re all really far from who I am.

I don`t think I was particularly in need of superheroes. I never had any fascination with Superman or Spider-Man or a Batman kind of character. If it happened at all, it was imagined characters that I had invented. My dad was a role model for me. He was a fascinating man. There was intrigue and entertainment growing up with him. He gave me an edict that I still pursue: "Life should never be boring."

Life is not stable. There is a great strength that comes from not being shocked or scared by upheavals.

I`m accustomed to not having any map for my life. I`d be reaching for an Uzi if I knew what was going to happen every day. If anybody tells me I shouldn`t jump, of course all I want to do is jump and show it can be done.

(2007 - On his career) I`ve been able to work on movies that I like very much in the past few years, which I think have turned out how I had hoped that they would. And, I`m human, you know; that makes me feel good. I like it when people like what I do. I don`t like it when people are laughing at me for what I do, you know? I mean, I`d love to say I was completely impervious to anybody`s opinion, but that just ain`t the truth. Of course, it matters. At the same time, there`s also a danger when you start playing it too safe. After all, what am I paid to do? I`m paid to essentially make an ass out of myself, if needed. And occasionally, in doing that, you`re going to fall flat on your face. But, I have learned, through doing that numerous times in my life, that there`s also a ton of enjoyment to what other people see as humiliation. You can actually come to sort of thrive on that, because in a way, it kind of leads to a sort of fearlessness, if you genuinely don`t mind. If the point is that you tried, I think that really is the most important thing. And, like you said, I feel like I`ve been very fortunate in the last couple of years that I`ve gotten to do what I loved, which is actually the making of movies, and on top of that, if I`ve liked how the movies have turned out themselves, then that`s fantastic. But, to start getting too comfortable within that would be eventually to start churning out boring, boring chaff.

He`s a messed-up individual, as well. He`s got all sorts of issues. He`s just as twisted and messed-up as the villains he`s fighting, and that`s part of the beauty of the whole story. - on the character of Batman

[on being asked if he knew how big a flop Newsies (1992) was] You say something bad about "Newsies" and you have an awful lot of people to answer to.

[describing director Christopher Nolan`s method for filming Batman Begins (2005)] We tend to shoot at night like some kind of covert operation. So, we have minimal people actually seeing me in that way.

[on filming Batman films during the summer] I`m not really looking forward to wearing a black rubber suit in the summertime in humid Chicago. If you see a pool of sweat through the city, follow it and you will find me.

At the time that [Christopher Nolan] asked me to do it [Batman Begins (2005)] I actually couldn`t do one push-up. They sent me to a trainer, who was having to hold my T-shirt at the back just to pull me up. I`ve come a long way from that.

I like being kept in the dark myself. You know, like mushrooms: Keep `em in the dark and feed `em shit. See, I think that`s an enjoyable vegetable to be.

I think there`s a kind of pretentiousness to the idea that serious work is only found in low-budget independent movies--I can`t stand that snobbery.

You can`t help but find that violence is endlessly fascinating--and I mean true violence, not action-movie violence, just because it is used as the answer to so many problems. We`re all taught as kids not to be violent, but you can`t help but also see that violence is what works very often. Bullies thrive.

I don`t think I`m like any of the characters I`ve played. They`re all really far from who I am.

I`m English. Our dentistry is not world famous. But I made sure I got moldings of my old teeth beforehand because I miss them.

I only sound intelligent when there`s a good scriptwriter around.

[on playing Batman] You couldn`t pull it off unless you became a beast inside that suit.

At first, I was somewhat hesitant to do the role [Batman Begins (2005)]. I mean, after all, Batman is an icon. But I remember, as clear as day, being at the grocery store the day the movie opened, and this little boy saw me. He couldn`t have been more than five years old. He just walked right up to me and hugged me. He hugged me, and I was so moved by it that I hugged him back. Then he looked up at me and said, "You`re my hero." And in that moment, I knew that not only as an actor that I had done my job, but that I had made the right decision to play Batman. And I`ve never looked back on my the decision to play Batman since.

I did other things, but my heart was never in it. A lot of actors say that theater`s the thing for them. And that`s great, and I`m not one to speak with any authority about it because of not having done it properly. For me, movies are what I love.

I had spent weeks staring at the wall in my house out of depression because of things that had gone wrong and the choices I had made. When I read "The Machinist" [Maquinista, El (2004)], I just went, "Wow! This is perfect". I was having dreams about the character and I couldn`t stop thinking about it. I felt like this one was going to save my arse, and pull me out of the depressed state I had got into.

For me, there`s a bigger risk trying [`Batman Begins (2005)_]. Ultimately, the big point was that [Christopher Nolan], who you would not expect to be doing that kind of movie, was going to direct it, which is exactly what I was looking for, because you want to do something totally different from the other Batman movies. I always thought there could be a really good movie made about Batman and when I heard that Chris was doing it I thought, "Well, he`s not a director that you would expect, therefore you`re going to get the unexpected from him". I think there`s a great potential for going very dark with it, it`s a fascinating character, very complex psychologically, which I`ve never seen done. You know, you have the two extremes, which are both very good. You can either go the very camp Adam West TV series thing ["Batman" (1966)], which was great in its own way, or you can go more the way of the graphic "Dark Knight" novels which delve somewhat deeper.

I needed money because I had just bought a house, but I just kept saying, "I really can`t do another movie that I know is not going to turn out the way I want it to, and that I have to make a lot of concessions in my head for".

I spent about three weeks in Chicago last July doing night shoots [for Batman Begins (2005)]. It`s a great city, but the humidity was tough under the Batsuit. Uh, it got a little bad. It`s hot enough in the Batsuit, let alone in the Chicago heat.

[on Batman Begins (2005)] I contacted them. I heard they were doing some low-budget Batman not aimed at kids and I was tantalized. I had appreciated the Batman movies, but I wasn`t really a fan and I didn`t know the TV series. But I read some of the graphic novels, and they were very dark and very interesting.

[on Batman Begins (2005)] I`ve never felt like the Batman character in the films was given as much time as any of the villains. The villains were always the most interesting characters, too. Batman has always been this very bizarre, almost blind character running through the middle of the story. Our film is different.

Our Batman [Batman Begins (2005)] is centered on the early days. It`s an explanation. It`s certainly not Batman No. 5. It`s a reinvention. We want you to forget there has ever been a Batman before this one.

The only thing that I`m obsessed with is sleeping and, actually, it is more than an obsession, it is a pleasure. I love sleeping so much that I could do it 12 hours a day if I didn`t have to turn on the alarm clock . . . and still, sometimes . . .

[on his transformation into Patrick Bateman for American Psycho (2000)] The character is so vain and obsessed with his looks. While the psychology of the character was something that I could perform, you can`t fake the physicality. Being English, I tend to enjoy going down to the pub far more than going to the gym, so it was very unnatural for me. I just had to convince myself that I loved it, which was the most difficult thing about playing this part. Working out is incredibly boring. I swear it`s true that the bigger your muscles get, the fewer brain cells you have. I found I had to stop thinking when I was in the gym because if I thought about it, I`d realize how ridiculous it was that I was pumping iron when I could`ve been out having a drink and a cigarette and enjoying some lunch. I did three hours a day for six weeks with a personal trainer and some time before that. I ate an awful lot during training and then almost nothing during filming.

It`s the actors who are prepared to make fools of themselves who are usually the ones who come to mean something to the audience.

I`d love to remain a secret and still work, but I also want people to see the movies I`m in and get a higher profile because of that. I like to think that as long as you continue choosing diverse roles, you can avoid becoming predictable.

I always like that. Whenever there`s a project where everyone`s going, "Oooooh, it`s a bit dodgy", I always like it. If you actually look at it, there tends not to be anything risky at all. Why did I start acting in the first place? I didn`t do it to be mediocre or to please everybody all the time.

[on his 63-pound weight loss for "The Machinist" (Maquinista, El (2004))] I had a stupid kind of feeling of invincibility, like, "I can do it, I can manage it". I really did feel like I hit this point of enlightenment.

I started my career without fans.

I don`t want to know about the lives of other actors and I don`t want people to know too much about me. If we don`t know about the private lives of other actors, that leaves us as clean slates when it comes to playing characters. That`s the point, they can create these other characters and I can believe them. I think if you`re a good enough actor, that`s the way to longevity in the film business. Keep everybody guessing.

[on the sudden fame that resulted after Empire of the Sun (1987)] I enjoyed making the film, but I was shocked when I received all the attention when I got home to Bournemouth. Girls were all over me, boys wanted to fight me, and I was being asked to open local fêtes when all I wanted to do was ride my BMX bike in the woods. I told my parents I wasn`t interested in doing anything again because the attention ruined it.

[on dealing with the resulting media attention of Empire of the Sun (1987) at age 13] It was horrific. I was almost crying in interviews and running away during press conferences, pretending I was going to the bathroom and just disappearing.

[interview in "Spin" magazine, March 1996] An actor should never be larger than the film he`s in.