I spent pretty much all my wages from 'No Country For Old Men' on a pair of cowboy boots. They're ridiculous. It's like wearing two Christmas trees on my legs.Collection: Christmas
People don't change very much, and the things life ends up being about don't change from generation to generation. Life is about love. And people's stories don't really change. Your environment changes dramatically, technology changes, but people don't change, in the way our minds work.
It's that TV thing. You can be in the biggest film of the year and it will still not have the kind of impact a TV series has. Once you're in people's living rooms, that's it. There's no hiding place.
Watching films I'm in is always a bit odd, especially when I'm watching them for the first time with other people. It's hard not to see my faults.
There was nobody in my family who knew anything about the film industry. I'm from the west of Scotland. It's not exactly a mecca for filmmaking. I think I saw Rab C. Nesbitt in Asda once, but that was about it.
They're naughty, all those writers - they mess around with people. I know James Gandolfini got a bit fed up on 'The Sopranos': if he said anything in front of a writer, told them a story from his life, it could make its way into the script.
L.A. is brilliant, but however long my trip is I'm always ready to leave. But New York I'm never quite happy to see the back of.
I don't lobby where work is concerned. As long as I know I've got something coming up, I don't really worry. It's not that I'm not ambitious, but I don't have a drive to be hugely successful and be working all the time.
I love that thing on Amazon that you can go on and order a book, and you click on it and it says, 'You might also like,' or 'Other people who bought this have bought that.'
It was both comforting and terrifying to go in to audition for 'The Girl in the Cafe,' as I'd worked with everyone in the room on 'State Of Play.'
I tend to get cast as a certain type of quiet, almost introverted person who's strong on the inside, but the characters are so very different I don't see it as any kind of typecasting.
A few years ago, if you had told me I'd be moving back to Glasgow I'd have said, 'No way'. But it's changed. It's much more vibrant, bohemian. But I'm 35 and I've become a bit of a homebody, I don't really go out much. Same in New York. My home could be anywhere but I love Glasgow.
Mine wasn't a lakes-and-boats kind of childhood. I grew up on a Glasgow council estate with a single mother. For our holidays, we went to Grandma and Grandad's caravan near Aberfoyle.
I was interested in drama, but it never seemed like a real profession somehow. It was so outside my experience, and I probably wouldn't have had the confidence for drama school, though I did send off for an application form.
The people on programmes like 'Made in Chelsea' just want to be celebrities. It's so depressing. No proper actor has that as a goal. I'm striving for longevity in my career.
It felt like a series of coincidences and luck that I ended up getting the part in 'Trainspotting,' but it's been an incredible journey since then. Every now and then, I sit and really think about it, and it blows my mind. I have to stop because I don't want my brain to implode.
I adore the fact that when I'm driving home from work, as soon as I hit my neighbourhood, I see people I know.
I've done a few American accents. I've maybe passed a test. But I don't know if it makes things easier or not.
I'm pretty happy with the two cities I call home now - Glasgow and New York. But I'd like to give Paris a shot.
I walk away from jobs generally feeling good about it and that I've done a good job. And it's always slightly deflating when I see the film thing because it's still me up there.
Robert Altman was such an incredible person to have the privilege to know and meet and have dinner with.
Being a parent is such a difficult business; you don't always get things right. And also, you don't want to be a perfect parent... You need people to be human, and part of it is imperfection.
It's really great if people actually want to see something that you've made and you've put a lot of effort into. And that doesn't always happen, and there's not always a rhyme or reason.
I've always been pretty self-sufficient. I never had to borrow money from my mum, even in the early days.
When I started acting I knew nothing. It was a momentous decision to pick up the flyer for the 'Trainspotting' audition. 'Destined' is a bit of a poncy word for it, but I do think I was headed in that direction.
I don't think I've been shy in the past. Young and uncomfortable, maybe. But shy? It has become this annoying term that I've been lumbered with.
I don't think you can be involved in film and not be a fan of theirs. The one that I just go back to and can watch anytime it's on TV and I'll watch to the end, is Fargo. I think it's, like, a perfect film, it's genius.Collection: Thinking
It's just the way I'm made. I do feel confident in what I do. It doesn't always work out 100% of the time, but generally I think I can do it quite well. But the other part of my job is doing the press and stuff. And I'm rubbish at that. I'm really not good at that at all - this quite important part of what I do.Collection: Jobs
I love that thing on Amazon that you can go on and order a book, and you click on it and it says, 'You might also like,' or 'Other people who bought this have bought that.Collection: Book