"I think Peter Sellers’ performance in that just really knocked me out — what you can do with character. I think Hal Ashby just embraced that naturalistic and really deep performance and took it to the next level, so it became this almost remarkable piece of surrealist social commentary."

"This is as close to a perfect film as I have ever seen. Thousands of years of humanity honing the blade of satire culminated in this searing parody from Stanley Kubrick. Typically his direction is the star of his films, but the performances here from Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, and Sterling Hayden turn this into a perfectly pitched collaboration among artists who were, at that moment in history, each firing on all cylinders. Sellers in particular excels in three completely different roles. It’s a true master class in character acting."

"Peter Sellers movies, I would have to have in on him. I’m tempted by Being There. Again, one of his more serious things, but a beautifully attenuated performance I thought he did in that. I haven’t seen the movie for a long time. I’m always nervous about saying, “Oh, that was a brilliant movie,” if you haven’t seen them for 15 years or 20 years, because you may go back to them now and think, “Oh, ah, well actually, it’s not great.” Or at least, “It’s got those great bits that I remember, but there’s a lot of stuff in between that is very unimpressive.” But I seem to remember the only thing that really spoiled it — and it was very much the fashion at the time — was the sort of bloopers edit over the end credits. And I thought that movie in particular did not suit and did not need shots of Peter Sellers cracking up. But obviously the producers or the distributors said, “Look, it’s a Peter Sellers movie and it hasn’t got a lot of laughs in it. Can we just stick something silly in the end?” And that is what they did, and it didn’t completely ruin the film, but it came very, very close, in my opinion."

"This movie is unbelievable. It was my first introduction to Peter Sellers and I was like, “Who is this guy?” He is so funny and innocent, and so perfect — and what a story, man. The end scene where he walks away on water, I thought, “Oh my gosh, this guy is God. He’s so simple, but he touched all these people and changes them.”"

"I love Being There, it’s one of my favorite movies — with Peter Sellers, who I thought was brilliant. I love how underplayed but so incredibly funny it was, you know… dry. [Laughs] There’s something wonderful about the misconceptions [about the main character] that create the simplicity of all of it. The misconceptions create a simplicity which then creates this aura. I love that movie."

"Dr. Strangelove. I think purely because of Peter Sellers. I love his characters; he’s just having so much fun. And that kind of subversion of very serious things going on is right up my alley; I really like that. I love Kubrick’s films, but that for me is also a very different Kubrick film. People either get it or they don’t. I love that film."

"I kinda want to go for another Hal Ashby; I want to say Being There, with Peter Sellers. I think it’s the funniest performance ever, but it’s 99 percent drama, 1 percent comedy. It’s the tiniest dose of funny, because he’s so serious. He’s very profound about human projection, which is very relevant for My Cousin Rachel, because it’s all about what people project onto her, how they interpret this film – is she guilty or innocent?"

"I first heard Satie's music in one of my favourite films, Peter Sellers' Being There, when I was younger, about a gardener who lives in the house of a wealthy old man, who has never known anything different, and has to move out after he dies. The music's there in all these tender moments, it seems to follow the wrong chords, and the movement of the melody is never obvious. It's ceremonial. It always makes me feel something.
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"I was just a monumental fan of both Tony Scott as a director and Eddie Murphy. I suppose you can probably tell now — and especially by if you watch Hardcore Henry, the performance styles of Robin Williams and Eddie Murphy, and Jim Carrey, that type of performance — Peter Sellers, which was obviously a bit before my time — but as I grew up going back and watching that, I love those kinds of actors. It’s interesting all the sequels [I have] in here too [laughing]."