Skip to main content
Ian McDiarmid

Ian McDiarmid Quotes

Quotes by and about Ian McDiarmid

(Continued from his main entry on the site.)

McDiarmid: "When you consider the roles I've played recently ... they're all dreamers responsible for their own delusion."

McDiarmid: "What I'm really interested in is exploring the difference between the world you create in your head, and the world as it actually exists."

McDiarmid: "The guys asked me to come and introduce the 3D version of episode 3. ... I confidently hope I'll be invited back to introduce episodes 4, 5, and 6 in 4D and 5D and 6D, and of course 7, 8, and 9 in 7D, 8D, and 9D, because the Star Wars universe in space and time is ever-expanding."

[On living in rough neighborhoods:]
McDiarmid: "I won't like it when King's Cross becomes the next Covent Garden or whatever it's supposed to become in the next 10 years. Then I'd want to move somewhere else. And that's to do with my spirit. ... It's not because I want to keep young and anarchic. ... Well maybe it is."

McDiarmid: "[I dislike the approach to psychology characterized by] salivating dogs and caged rats rather than Freud and imagination."

The Guardian: "Uncertainty is important for McDiarmid. Almost a principle. Something to be embraced, nurtured and feared."

The Guardian: "At [one] time he was quoted as saying that he thought a theater should be blown up after 10 years. Actually ... he was quoting another director, but ... he does agree."

The Guardian: "He often quotes people ... whose words he values more than his [own]."

Mark Kebble: "[Being] committed to change, taking [things] in a direction [you] feel strongly about. ... That's what excites [him]."