A Quote by William Monahan

London matters to me because it's the center of what I do for a living and has been since Tudor times. — © William Monahan
London matters to me because it's the center of what I do for a living and has been since Tudor times.
Because I direct films, I have to live in a major English-speaking production center. That narrows it down to three places: Los Angeles, New York and London. I like New York, but it's inferior to London as a production center. Hollywood is best, but I don't like living there.
Since I moved to the U.K., it has been ten years almost, I have never had any issue. My boy, Jan, was born in London and people have been great to me. I have been really happy living here.
I have always been English, ever since I emigrated from England and since the kids in Canada beat me up at the age of twelve for having an East London Cockney accent. I thank them for the cockney taunts because the beatings turned me on to boxing. But on a serious note Canada has been kind to me.
I'm an adaptable nomad. I love Paris, I've been living in Los Angeles and New York since 1990. I love London, too. My roots are inside of me.
I don't think America has ever had a center the way London is the center of England or Dublin is the center of Ireland.
I've been in the entertainment industry since I was six-years-old ... As Charles Dickens says, 'It's been the best of times, the worst of times.' But I would not change my career ... While some have made deliberate attempts to hurt me, I take it in stride because I have a loving family, a strong faith and wonderful friends and fans who have, and continue, to support me.
New York is more exciting, I guess, than even Paris or London. New York's the center of something; I don't know what, really - the center of a lot of things. With all its problems and chaos and craziness, it's still a great place to live. I can't see myself living anywhere else.
I wouldn't dream of commenting on Hilary Mantel as a novelist, frankly I'd be grateful if she stayed off my patch as a historian. She is intelligent, she is bright, she is an admirable writer. I happen to find her Tudor novels unreadable, but that's because I am a Tudor historian.
Although I have lived in London, I have never really considered London my home because it was always going to be a stopping-off point for me, and it has been too.
Rioting has always been a London tradition. It has been since the early Middle Ages. There's hardly a spate of years that goes by without violent rioting of one kind or another. They happen so frequently that they are almost part of London's texture.
Look, there is always something of a fine balancing act to what we do, but ultimately I believe what matters most of the time to me is what matters to my constituents. That doesn't mean I haven't gotten into trouble at times for taking a stand I believed was right, but may not have been the popular choice.
I am fascinated by Tudor times.
I love London because of the history. The times I've been there have been some of the best memories in my life. Singing there, seeing great theater - and the people like a Southern accent.
We are not telling Tudor history; we are creating ' Wolf Hall ' from novels, which are already a rereading of Tudor history.
In London I'm out and about all the time. I walk everywhere, so people do recognise me and they've probably seen me before so they're not bothered anymore. But I think that's a good thing because if you try and remain mysterious people are surprised when they see you. With me, I think they're just bored of seeing me - but that suits me just fine because I like to live as much of a normal life as I can. That's why I love living in London. People are very respectful of your privacy. If they see you having a coffee in a coffee shop, they're not going to interrupt you.
My agent in London told me, after Never Let Me Go, because I loved doing that so much, "If you're on a lucky streak and you're doing well, you should only take a part, if you can't bear the idea of anyone else doing it." That's been the case since then, with Drive and Shame and the play (The Seagull), and the stuff that's going on, like Gatsby. I would have been devastated, if I hadn't gotten those jobs.
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