Being a salesman and an actor were not that dissimilar: It is a good lesson in covering up your feelings. No one wants to buy from someone who looks depressed.
Cromwell wasn't at the execution of Charles I. So what' He's in our film and it makes it more dramatically interesting.
Every film role brings it's own kind of pressures but I don't really think about pressure when making a film, I just enjoy it.
Fairfax was incredibly important to the shaping of the country.
I am an actor through and through.
I do what I feel is right at the time. Opportunities come along and I take them or I don't. I work instinctively.
I don't like acting things; I like feeling things.
I got involved in script development from the beginning. It was nice to see how a film gets made right from the beginning. It was quite hands-on for me.
I just love jumping into someone else's life. It is a relatively cheap way to experience things you would be too scared to contemplate in your own life.
I read all the books on Fairfax in the British Library, did a lot of horse riding and studied military tactics of the time.
I read Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, and I could recognise that world. My dad had been a salesman for the last 30 years of his career.
I tend to do golf charity things because it's much safer and you don't get much chance of a broken arm or leg.
I try and do films I know I'm going to enjoy watching as well as being in.
I would love to make a golf movie.
I'm doing a Dylan Thomas film, Map of Love, with Mick Jagger producing again. It's a wonderful script.
In terms of jumping into a character's skin, I try to immerse myself in the role as much as possible to bring me closer to them. All I do is what's required to achieve what I want to achieve.
It is extraordinary when you see how important Fairfax was in historical terms to the Civil War and what happened afterwards.
It is wonderful to be in a place where your character has trod and you're walking on the same ground he has walked on. It's quite eerie.
It quite often happens that they attach a name to a project and it doesn't get all the financing it needs.
It's difficult to get films made, especially films about poets.
It's nice to be asked to do good projects.
Let's face it, every film in Britain is difficult to get made no matter who you are.
Method acting is a label I don't really understand, because there's a method to everybody's acting.
My Dad ended up being a salesman, selling fridges and freezers. I learnt what you have to cover up and how the outside of someone is completely different to what's going on inside.
My focus never wavered; I never accepted the film was not going to be finished.
No one should go without being paid.
Nobody had filmed at Hampton Court Place as we had. The last thing you want to do is leave your set at Hampton Court Palace!
People go to see a film because it's a great story and it's visually exciting to watch.
Sometimes it is easier to play someone who is far away from you.
Sometimes people say to you that you should try to be in a bigger film, but it's the way it pans out.
Sometimes you just can't walk away from films you're offered, like the Dylan Thomas thing.
The hair, which I had for three months, was extensions glued in the back. I didn't get attached to it; it got attached to me.
The point is to be involved in the moment.
The success of the film is down to the crew.
To Kill A King is one of the biggest independent British films for a long, long time. That's a great feat in itself.
What was the reason for invading Iraq' Was it a humanitarian crusade or an economic one' I would be inclined to say the latter. It was the same with the Civil War, because the landed gentry's money was being stolen by the king.
When I'm playing a character like Jonathan in Ripley's Game I want to be in the moment when he's feeling pain; this very ordinary person who finds himself in extraordinary circumstances.
When you do bigger films, the financiers take more risks.
With the situation now, people might be intrigued to see how a country coped with war all those years ago.
You couldn't take football away from me, you couldn't take acting away from me.
You grow up a lot in terms of your understanding of the industry and how to deal with the corporate things.
You should be careful what you wish for, as the reasons for war get confused. One person can be very clear in their motives, but others can have different agendas.
You'd have to have one hell of an imagination to completely make up a story, but historians are very anal about what they think should be portrayed on screen. Thankfully they don't make movies; we do.
You're making a movie, not a documentary. If you made a film like the historians would like you to make, you're not going to go and see it. I'd rather see paint dry.
(When asked to define his career): "I do what I feel is right at the time. Opportunities come along and I take them or I don't. I feel happy about what I'm doing, and I work instinctively. I'm doing a Dylan Thomas film, "Map of Love", with Mick Jagger producing again. It's a wonderful script."
(On his role in "Ever After"): "I had never worn a codpiece before and I don't think I ever will again."
I read all the books on Fairfax in the British Library, did a lot of horse riding and studied military tactics of the time, finding out that he actually laid his rose garden out in strategic formations! But Method acting is a label I don't really understand, because there's a method to everybody's acting. In terms of jumping into a character's skin, I try to immerse myself in the role as much as possible to bring me closer to them. All I do is what's required to achieve what I want to achieve.
Is the father of twins, a boy and a girl, born early in 1998
Favorite football club is Hibernian
Was cast as Wolverine in X-Men (2000), but had to leave due to a schedule conflict with Mission: Impossible II (2000).
Attended Auchmuty High School, Glenrothes, Fife.
Dougray was born Stephen Scott, but the name had already been registered at Equity, so he took his French grandmother's surname.
Actor Ewan McGregor was the best man at his wedding. The twins names are Eden & Gabriel.
Nominated for GQ's "Most Alluring Man" of 2001.
Placed 97th in the "Top 100 Sexiest Men of "New Woman Magazine".
Sunday Mail/McEwan's People's Film Fest's "Scottish Film Star of the Year."
Placed 5th in 'Heavenly Bodies' poll of the "Celebrity Bodies" magazine (UK).
Won the 1989 Most Promising Drama Student Award from the Welsh College of Music & Drama.
Engaged to actress/girlfriend Claire Forlani [October 2006].
Has been a regular Chieftain at Mintlaw Highland Games in Fife.
Wed Claire Forlani in a private civil ceremony in Italy. Banquet was held at her family's country home in Pievebovigliana.
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