Q- As a director, you tease great performances out of your cast, Ben Kingsley as Ghandi, Anthony Hopkins in Shadowlands, Robert Downey Jr in Chaplin…..

Richard Attenborough - You wont hear me say ‘Point out a better actor than Tony Hopkins’, although if there is anyone who can touch Tony its Robert. I was in my agents office in LA talking about the casting of Chaplin, when the door opened and a boy with streaked black hair and rings and a black leather jacket and God knows what says ‘Mr Attenborough, my name’s Downey and I’m gonna play Chaplin’. Robert can dance, he can sing, he plays the piano exquisitely - and I mean Mozart and Haydn sonatas. And he has the ability to transform himself. More than Tony actually.

Q - Hopkins had his drink problems in the past, Downey Jr has just been released from prison after his drugs conviction. Are great actors drawn to this side of life?

RA - Robert can go terribly wrong because he goes off on tangents without understanding the logic of the director. I talked to him several times when he was in prison. His self-control in relation to all this stuff was heartbreaking. One mustn’t attribute blame, but all I know is that his upbringing showed him that [mimes smoking] was nothing extraordinary - it was part of living. He never gave us a problem, never, never, never. But we had to watch him in his trailer, not because we wished to spy on him, but to help him, because he was so susceptible to the temptation. It was heartbreaking to watch. But he’ll make it. He’s a darling, the sweetest guy.

Attenborough also said - 'When Robert does Charlie as the old man - a sequence which was not in the movie originally and took 4 hours of makeup - I thought he was brilliant'