Angus Macfadyen

I cut out carbs like rice and pasta and bread and potatoes and all forms of cakes, chocolate and sweets. But it would be really boring if I cut out alcohol.

I remember watching Mel Gibson direct himself on 'Braveheart' and he would do two takes, shrug and move on.

Ive been wanting to play Macbeth for quite a long time but then I just realised nobody is going to offer me the role so I have to generate it myself.

Id been thinking about directing for a while. I write a lot, so I have a lot of scripts, and I have wanted to try this. I really enjoyed it, apart from directing myself - you kind of need another set of eyes on you, so that part was a little bit stressful.

But, as a kid, I was travelling. Africa, Singapore, Australia, America, South Pacific, Philippines, France - I spent two years in each place and eventually made my way back to Edinburgh University for five years.

I was born in Peebles and my grandparents lived in Colinton so I spent time there.

I am one of the many Scots who has had to leave Scotland in order to find employment so I in no way feel ashamed I have not been in Scotland.

The journey of Robert the Bruce became my journey because the moral of that story - as every schoolchild is taught in Scotland - is he went into this cave and watched a spider trying to spin its web and it kept failing several times, and then it finally succeeded.

Being Scottish is something you have in your heart not something that comes off your tongue.

A movie that can touch you and emotionally get inside you and stir you up and maybe remind you of your own humanity is a good thing.

Panama is very close to all the points, six hours from Los Angeles, four hours from New York, 10 hours over to Europe. And I can live on a beach. I just ended up there and I liked it.

When 'Braveheart' came out it got terrible reviews, it didnt last very long in the cinema and didnt make much money.

Big guys and historical figures are often linked because people back in the day were not obsessed with their figure.

I realised that you just don't know about destiny. You think you are in control of your fate but, really, you are not. There are other powers at work. You don't get to see the full picture until decades later.

This is the problem with politicians. They spend all their time making these speeches and pretending to have integrity but all they are doing is toeing a party line. It is so disgusting.

A politician's speech can't do what a movie or a cultural event like a song or piece of music can.

The experience of 'Braveheart' was great, but I was a little disappointed that we weren't telling the rest of the story.

I was throwing the big broadsword around my head for a couple of hours. Then I went horse riding the same day. Then I was laid up in bed for a week and I couldn't move because my entire neck had gone out from overdoing that one exercise. That was the extent of my training on 'Braveheart.'

I had to convince the investor that Scotland and Montana look completely alike. He couldnt believe it. But they actually do. I defy anybody to tell when were in Montana and when were in Scotland.