Douglas Henshall; The Scottish actor doesn't know which he finds scarier: the end of Don't Look Now or the crowd at the Proms.
What are you reading in bed at present?
Gitta Sereny's Albert Speer: His Battle With Truth, Rubicon by Tom Holland and Michael Morpurgo's Private Peaceful. They all seem to be about some kind of conflict, which is what's going on in the play I'm in - Darwin in Malibu.
Do you re-read books?
I re-read P G Wodehouse's Blandings stories. Nothing bad happens. It's a safe kind of blanket.
What is the soundtrack to your life right now?
Keane's Hopes and Fears album, and Gorecki's Symphony no 3. I've also become incredibly sentimental about the Eighties. I've set up all these compilations on my computer. I found albums by people like Black and a couple of Level 42 numbers and one by Blue Nile.
Who should play you in the Hollywood version of your life?
Christopher Walken. Or Julia Roberts... Well, it is "Hollywood", isn't it?
Is that because you think of yourself as particularly evil and scary?
No. Walken was the kindest, most beautiful man in The Deer Hunter. Not that that's how I see myself! But he wiped everyone else off the screen.
And who would be your nemesis in the last reel? Might be hard to find anyone scarier than Christopher Walken...
Macaulay Culkin. Or the person in the red coat at the end of Don't Look Now. That is the scariest film ever. It actually made me feel sick.
What is your ideal alternative job?
John Motson's. I'd like to be a football commentator. Or any sports commentator really. It's so immediate. In most jobs you don't see what it costs people. In sport it's written all over them. You see Kelly Holmes racing and you can see what she's going through - it's etched on her face.
Did you watch the Olympics then?
Avidly. I particularly loved the swimming. And the women's pole vaulting - that was fantastic. Those two Russian women hated each other!
Do you have a hole in your cultural life?
Yes. Live music. Of any kind. I think the last gig I went to was Coldplay years ago. I wish I went to the South Bank to see stuff. The Proms doesn't appeal - it's full of awful people, isn't it?
Which painting most corresponds with your vision of yourself?
In the old Tate Britain they had that Turner room, which I loved. I think they're spiritual paintings, if that's not too wanky - the way they're all filled with light. And I used to sit in that dark Rothko room for hours. I like to think those two rooms represent different aspects of my personality.
What was your cultural passion when you were 14?
St Mirren FC. My dad wouldn't let me see Celtic or Rangers because of the sectarian violence, so I went to Love Street to see St Mirren instead. They're the only club to have ever fired Alex Ferguson. I still follow them, but from a distance.
And what is your passion now?
Doing this. My job. I have to say acting is my equivalent passion these days.
If you could tear down any building in the world, what would it be?
When we were filming Anna Karenina, I came across this road which runs dead straight between Warsaw and Moscow, and there's this huge building along the way which was left by Stalin. It was apparently a gift to the Poles but looks more like a threat than a gift. It's a cultural centre but the Poles think it's a joke and hardly use it.
What is the most fashionable thing you own?
My Gucci leather jacket. I took my friends along to the shop with me so that they could convince me I was doing the right thing.
And the most uncool?
I have this Hawaiian shirt which not even the worst-dressed Floridian going on holiday in Hawaii would consider wearing. I put it on recently and my friends tore it to shreds.
Your house is on fire - what is the first thing you save from the flames?
I'd save my copy of Robert Burns's poetry. My mum got it when I was born and then passed it on to me, so it's irreplaceable really. It's a 1965 copy.
Independent September 19th 2005