I`d love to work in America, some of my favourite films come from America.

What we do as actors is we go through phases where you superficially learn all this information.

My wife can see always how a part affects me personally because she has to live with it.

Well, we are doppelgangers. - on that Howard Stern nearly played Scarecrow, Cillian`s role in Batman Begins (2005), in an early attempted adaptation.

To me, someone`s sexuality is usually the least interesting thing about them. It`s secondary. The only reason it becomes a source for dramatic storytelling is because people have made such an issue out of it. (about his character in Breakfast on Pluto)

Having started out in theatre, I feel an impulse to do it as much as I can.

Too many filmmakers today are trying to put their work into a box. I can`t stand that! Making movies is a lot of work. Let`s take some risks.

But you can make wonderful films within a small, independent environment and you can make wonderful films in Los Angeles, within the studio system. You hear a lot of actors saying, `I`d never go to Hollywood and sell out.` But, if it`s a good script and a good director, why not? To shut oneself off completely is, I think, very limiting.

You`re an actor who`s Irish, not an Irish actor. And you shouldn`t be limited by your extraction. On breaking the Irish type cast

If you behave like a celebrity, then people will treat you like a celebrity, and if you don`t, they won`t. There`s not much to write about me in the tabloids.

I`m not worried about being pegged, but it`s important for me to knock down any perceptions of me that are out there.

Today I pick and choose my films very carefully. There`s nothing I`ve done so far that I can`t talk about with commitment and passion.

I think there`s such a thing, as a performance gene. If it`s in your DNA it needs to come out. For me it originally came out through music, then segued into acting and came out through there. I always needed to get up and perform.

I have a deepening respect for women. It`s a lot of pain. The plucking of the eyebrows is the worst. It gets better. The first time is hard.

It was very much about performances, the whole ensemble thing was just great - everybody working together. Sometimes it didn`t feel like a film set. It wasn`t technically driven, it was very, very enjoyable.

It`s obvious that if you`re going to play a character you need to amass information about that person and about their environment or their era that they`re in and use as little or as much as necessary.

I don`t think they`d ever make a movie about Chuck Baker but I`d love to play Chuck Baker.

I can have a bit of fun with it, too, because my only motivation really is being bad. I love doing proper dramatic character studies, but it`s also good to have a but of fun, dress up and stuff. - On accepting the role of the Scarecrow in Batman Begins (2005).

It`s basically lazy journalism if they say I`m the new Colin Farrell. This thing about heat, it`s all just hot air.

I don`t have a burning passion to live in America per se but I would certainly like to work there.

I`d probably have been wealthier if I had stayed with law, but pretty miserable doing it.

It`s easy to take the check, you know, but if you want to have any longevity, just take things that have artistic merit in them. I want to do quality. If it`s good telly, I`ll do it. If it`s good theater, I`ll do it.

If there`s an opportunity to work with Ken Loach, you can`t really turn that down. He`s made some of the finest films of the past 25 years. Whether you like or dislike his movies, there`s never a bad performance in them, ever. There`s none of the bullshit. There`s no trailers, no nonsense, no pampering. It`s a breath of fresh air.

Well, the first part of the question, I think if you ask any male if you really want to get into a real suit, that was a dream come true obviously and then just to get to work with Chris even for that little test was amazing as well and then I don`t know, he saw something in it that he thought maybe he could use for the other characters - On auditioning for Batman Begins (2005).

There`s a lot of comedy in Intermission but it`s got this depth. It`s not comedy for comedy`s sake - it`s informed by something else. I like stuff like that.

Journalists have a myopic view of your versatility. They`re like `You only play the creep`.

Neil Jordan is one of my favorite directors. Not just because he`s Irish and I`m Irish. In the world of directors, he`s one of those guys.

I enjoy all aspects of it, I don`t have a preference for any medium. I think each of them has its attractions and I would hope they each inform the other in some way.

At the moment I`m doing this space movie, so I`m obsessed with physics and space travel. I know three months down the line it`s gone. Then I`ll be able to superficially say stuff about space.

Sometimes the darker stuff has greater potential for drama, it`s always interesting to investigate things that you might come across in your own life.

Then I wanted the character to be feminine as opposed to effeminate. Because it`s easy to be camp or queen. Anyone can do that. What`s difficult is to play feminine.

The best roles you have to fight for. You have to really want to do it and you have to go after it.

I`ve a very, very close-knit group of friends from Ireland. They and my family are the most important things to me.

I don`t know if anyone will ever sit beside me on a plane again. - on his role as a terrorist in Red Eye (2005)

And I`d love to work with Robert Altman.