For power to stay in power, the powerful have to impose some level of fear over the people that they are in power over. If you have power, you make decisions and if you make decisions you can probably keep power.

when someone has caused harm, harming them might not be the move.

This light is shining on you. Do you know that it's pushing you?…Most people don't. But it is, because it's got energy. The only thing is, it's so small you don't feel it.

But if our institutions of democracy are not working, that is an even greater threat to our national security

No, I would never say that. I would never say that I do something just in order to put a fresh spin on it or do something different with it. I am drawn to certain plays because I think there’s something about them in the story that I want to tell, or that I think is relevant—something that strikes me. With Macbeth, I’m not doing this because I want to do a crazy interpretation or production.

But when you say to someone, “I don't understand this and I'm asking your advice because you're better at it than me,” by doing that and involving people and making the film truly a collaborative process, you get much better results. You get a better film and you get happier people and get an atmosphere on the set that is truly creative.

Being hit on the head with a brick, and like a bowl of hearty soup.

I think the notion of a bucket list is kind of wrong, actually. If you want to do something, go and do it. Don't put it on a list and think, I want to do this before I die. What if you die tomorrow? Just go and do the things. Seize the day. A couple of years ago, I decided I'd like to do a dance piece, and I ended up doing this one-man dance-theater piece about (Scottish poet) Robert Burns. I just wanted to use my body in a different way.

Plug it in, switch it on and read the bloody label.

A couple of summers ago, walking through a forest illuminated by fireflies, with my man and our dogs.