Tom runs a very tight ship. You do not turn up late and you don`t muck around - he`s strict with himself and everyone he works with.

They were, like, so excited on the set. We were there, and we all knew that Tom was going to have a kid before anybody else and we were very excited about the fact.

When you work with Tom certain things have to be secretive and you accept that.

There will be ups and downs, but it is important to remember you`re on your own beautiful journey, and once you`re on it you have to see it through to it`s own conclusion. And try to never be afraid to do anything because what`s the worse that can happen?

Who wouldn`t want the chance of being the world`s greatest super-spy agent? ... It`s not reality for me at the moment.

It`s not reality for me at the moment .

Match Point did get a lot of attention but it (Best Actor) was a very tough category.

(On being a professional actor) I started acting at 18 years old because I got a lead role in a movie. It wasn`t like I was a kid going, "When I grow up, I want to be an actor." So I think what drives me is I found something very young by mistake that I could do. But that doesn`t necessarily mean I love it all the time. Because it`s not lovable. The process of acting itself for me is really simple. It`s not brain surgery. You take the character, and you play it as naturally as you possibly can. That`s it. There`s no greater or higher purpose. What makes acting difficult is the business end of it. Because no matter how genius an actor is or how many millions of dollars he makes, he can look back in his past and see a sea of rejection--even the people who are at the top of their game. Just because someone is like Leonardo DiCaprio doesn`t mean he gets to do anything he wants. He has to fight for those roles the same as anybody else. Now, he is fighting on a different level, but it`s still a fight. What`s difficult about the prospect is trying to reinvent your self-confidence, even though it`s constantly being torn down. And, of course, for every 10 people who like you in a film, there`s 10 people who won`t. I read one critique of me in Velvet Goldmine that said I had all the charisma of chewed bubblegum. I think I kept that one in my scrapbook.

(On what satisfaction he gets as an actor) What do I get out of it at the end of the day? Money. I get to travel around to different places. I get--for 10 to 12 hours a day--to not really be me. It`s great escapism. It can be very fucking therapeutic. But it`s not something that`s immediately satisfying. Sure, it`s satisfying when a film you`re in breaks $300 million at the box office, and the next thing is you get a $5 million offer, and there are awards flying about the place. But more often it`s not. Every so often someone comes up and says, "Hey, I saw you in that movie. It was great!" And I`m like, "Yeah, thanks very much." And that`s where the satisfaction comes in.

(On Alexander) I did it just basically to work with Oliver Stone, but there wasn`t enough work in it for me. I shouldn`t have done it. I actually made a point of cutting myself out of two major scenes because I didn`t want to be backroom dressing. I don`t think Oliver really knew what he was taking on.

I auditioned for Tigerland and I was furious when I found out that Colin (Farrell) was doing it. But then when I saw the movie, there was nobody else that could make it like Colin made it. He was like this beautiful, beautiful cocktail of Marlon Brando in The Men and Montgomery Clift in Red River. He was sensitive and attitudeish - lawyerish - but at the same time so boyish, so sexual, so misled. He played it beautifully. I could never have done that. After I saw the movie I said, `Okay, I see what I need to learn`."

(On becoming a successful actor) If you want to work, if you want to be successful, you have to struggle, you have to travel. You have to forgo relationships because they don`t work, which I`ve learnt to my detriment. You have to forgo friends.

(On his role in The Tudors) I based him on what I would do myself if I had absolute power at 28, 29 years old. I didn`t have the physicality of Henry, you know? And so I had to do it all internally. I had to create this incredibly strong, powerful man without being sort of like 6` 4" and 300 pounds. I had to make his intellect bigger than anybody else`s. I had to make his ambition bigger than anybody else`s. I had to make his energy bigger than anybody else`s. And I had to make him the most dangerous man in court.

It`s not about money, fame, people knowing you. It`s not even about enjoying yourself and being happy. It`s about achieving something that`s brilliant, creating something that`s brilliant, for other people. For yourself, you`re always going to be unsatisfied, but if somebody comes up to me and says, `That was a brilliant part, and I really, really got it`. That`s essentially it.

If there`s a good script and a good part, you can be guaranteed that all the best actors in the world are trying to get it. There`s no such thing as once you get to a certain stage, everything becomes easy. Everything becomes harder, you want the best roles, the biggest roles. And so does everyone else.

I don`t have many friends that are actors. It`s a very faux environment. I don`t call people up after films.

(2001) I`d love to do a big blockbuster action film, it`d be great, can you imagine? Pay me, no problem. I`d love to do a huge big `Mike and Jerry` type film. They`re really great but I don`t think Micheal Bay or Jerry Bruckheimer think too fondly of me. Wait until I go off and get an Oscar nomination, then they`ll love me to bits.

(On the hardest aspect of playing Elvis Presley) To get that energy. Because Elvis did a lot of things. Most people ask, `What was harder? The dance moves? The guitar playing? The singing or the lip-synching?` I`ll tell you what it was - the energy. If you`re playing someone like Elvis Presley, the Elvis Presley that I know from reading and researching, you do it from the heart. So, I had to really put myself in those shoes. It was very, very hard, having to pretend to be Elvis Presley, because I`m an actor doing it, but unless you wake up every morning being Elvis Presley, you really don`t know what that feels like.

(On if he saw similarities between him and Elvis Presley) Yeah, of course. I know, I saw the things I have in common with Elvis and I latched onto them, like he was a poor boy from Mississippi, I was a poor boy from Cork. We didn`t get on well at school, either of us. We weren`t liked by the students particularly. We were very, very different in the way we dressed, in the way we looked. We both bought houses for our Mama out of our first big paycheck. We both daydreamed and then went and fought to make our dreams a reality.

To get up in front of a camera of course you have to have a certain amount of vanity. All acting is narcissism in some way. Would I be a narcissistic person? Absolutely. Am I vain? Absolutely. Any actor who sits down in front of you and tells you they`re not vain its bullshit. I`m sure a lot of actors are like `Oh no, I`m not vain I just look fabulous everyday`. Now they`d like to believe that themselves. Its all very carefully manipulated, and I`ve met and worked with some of the most beautiful actors in the world and then you see them on a cover of a magazine they don`t look like that, any of them, they just don`t.

(When he first realized he wanted to be an actor full-time) I think when I went on to the set of Michael Collins which was the second film that I shot. And it wasn`t even the acting it was that whole atmosphere and suddenly I was on a film set with Liam Neeson and Alan Rickman and Neil Jordan and it was the whole buzz about it and the big cameras and suddenly it was kind of like this is a pretty fucking cool job.

When somebody looks at the body of work that I`ve done and they put Bend It like Beckham, Match Point, August Rush, The Tudor`s and Elvis next to each other they can see very many different layers of what I can do as an actor. That`s why I do different roles so people can see your range.

(On Match Point) It`s strange this film was not difficult to make in any way. It was the easiest and most relaxing film I`ve ever done.

At some point in your career as an actor you`re going to have to get on a Stairmaster. The days of Harris and O`Toole are gone. If you want to be at the top of your game, you can`t be out partying with your friends, or having six pints a night down the pub.

I find actors who play nasty guys in movies are the nicest guys in real life, and the opposite then goes for heroes.

... I wouldn`t date an actress. There`s only room for one actor in my life and I`m it. Too difficult. On the one hand, they understand the job. But on the other hand, it`s very competitive within the relationship. Two actors, say one becomes a mega-star and the other doesn`t. Happens all the time. So one is getting so much attention, and the other person feels jealous.

I`ve never gone to acting school and I never will, so I`m learning about the business from the people who are in the business. It doesn`t seem like I work at all. And the unknown is always exciting.

I think I`d really like to be someone who would be known for being a nice guy.

But actors, everything is so physical. You`re basically the only product you have. The hardest part of acting is realizing it doesn`t matter. I`m going to try and not take it too seriously because, if I do, I would really wreck my head.

I think it is important to stay close to your roots and be true to yourself, be honest. I don`t want to play games in Hollywood and pretend to be someone else. I still suffer from insecurity and that situation would make it worse.

A lot of men are very uptight, but I don`t distinguish between male and female beauty. Beauty is beauty.

There will be ups and downs, but it`s important to remember you`re on your own beautiful journey and once you`re on it you have to see it through to its conclusion and try to never be afraid to do anything because what is the worse that can happen?

"I felt lower then than I did when I was 13 years old, I remember getting out of the limo with Toni and Christian Bale and walking towards all these photographers, and they were going, `Hey! Toni! Look over here! Hey, Christian, here!` And I just walked on because nobody had an idea who I was. It was a horrible experience." - Cannes Film Festival 1998

"You get on a set and immediately people are wiping your ass for you, and nobody tells you when you`re being an asshole. I`m sure nobody working for Tom Cruise would turn around and say, `Tom, don`t do that anymore because you`re a dickhead to do that`. Actually, he might quite like it".

Being an actor is the easiest job. Just say the lines.