I think my expectations for myself are much more severe and much more direct. You can't work on a film for six years without being your own toughest critic. So you can't really be distracted by the expectations based on your previous performance.
You're only as good as your last joke, your last show, your last whatever. The confidence is there, but underneath, there is always insecurity.
My mother is the toughest opponent. Many people think she would go easy on me, but that's not the case.
I'll be really tough on myself. Someone will be like, 'Oh that's really cool' and I'll be like, 'Yeah, but there's this one flaw.'
As actors, we're all encouraged to feel that each job is the last job. They plant some little electrode in your head at an early stage and you think, 'Be grateful, be grateful, be grateful.'
Wicketkeeping is a lot like umpiring, as it's a thankless job. People only remember you for your mistakes. You try and do your best everyday, but you won't be at your best every single day.
Some other things I don't miss: the media and the pressure of just being asked to do, and being asked questions every day.
I'm not an easy customer. My attention to detail could probably drive you mad. My eye still always goes toward the single flaw.
John Howard Davies was not a very human person... if you made a mistake of any kind, any sort of pause in speech, he would treat you rather as if he was a schoolmaster.
I am a self-critical perfectionist.
Basically, in our society, you can never fix anything enough. The minute you get your head above water about one thing, they let you know that 12 other things about you suck. It's like playing 'Self-Esteem Whack-A-Mole.'
It is exhausting knowing that most of the time the phone rings, most of the time there's an email, most of the time there's a letter, someone wants something of you.
I'm probably my own harshest critic. If I get a hundred good reviews and one really bad one, it's that one out of a hundred that I remember. I think we actors are hard on ourselves, and I don't know why that is.
I am very insecure because that's how I have played cricket. Since Under-14, I was told, 'If you don't perform, you will be dropped.' I have started living with this system.
