I always say I'm certain I changed 'Watchmen' less than the Coen brothers changed 'No Country for Old Men.' I'm certain of it. But you don't hear the Cormac McCarthy fans like up in arms about it. They should be. It's like an amazing Pulitzer Prize-winning book.

My mom can't defend herself to the world. She is such an amazing woman with such an open heart. It's a real hard line and I crossed it. I took everyone's life story and assumed it would be a great thing to put on screen. I was being selfish and I feel so horrible about it. I feel so guilty.

Brains don't really smell but what's amazing about the brain is that it's almost like scrambled eggs or soft tofu almost like a gel. The brain controls so much of what we do but you could put your finger right through it.

I don't think immortality is necessarily the key to understanding the world. You have to be careful with what you think you're achieving. I'm all for science discovering amazing and fantastic things about our world but I think the motivations behind it are slightly askew.

The most amazing thing to me about the sea is the tide. A harbour like St. Ives is totally transformed in a very short space of time by the arrival or departure of the sea.

As an actor to have achieved financial stability is amazing. But I always have this weird fear that I'm not going to get any more work it's about not having enough money.

I filmed 'Albatross' before I got 'Downton.' It's a coming-of-age movie about this girl who leaps into this family's life like a whirlwind. She's ballsy and brash and wonderful it was such an amazing character to play.

There is something about the South that accepts the supernatural. If you don't accept it and you're having a conversation with someone who does it's just one of those polite things where you don't question their belief in ghosts. You just go 'Oh yeah okay.' It's amazing to be able to have conversations like that.

That show 'The Amazing Race' - is that about white people?

But one of the amazing things about documentary is that you can remake it every time you make one. There is no rule about how a documentary film has to be made.