Mark Gatiss Quotes

'Son of Frankenstein' is never talked about in the same tone as James Whale's 1931 'Frankenstein.' But it should be. It was Boris Karloff's last appearance in the Frankenstein series and stars Donnie Dunagan, then a child actor.

- Mark Gatiss

'Monty Python' is now more recognised by the films than by the TV series.

- Mark Gatiss

The reason I wanted to do 'The First Men in the Moon' was that there is something so challenging in the combination of space travel and the Edwardian period.

- Mark Gatiss

I think one of the few faults in Dickens is that mostly his lead characters are blanks - who is David Copperfield, who is Oliver Twist? And yet he takes such joy in populating the rest of his novels with these fantastic, grotesque people like Pecksmith and so on.

- Mark Gatiss

Fear is an underrated emotion. And that's why I think it's very dangerous to try and cosset children from it. A healthy scare is as good as as a healthy laugh. In fact, they're two sides of the same coin. There is a desire to shield from the knocks and bumps of reality.

- Mark Gatiss

Even though it's meant to be the season of jollity and goodwill, there's something delicious about the anticipation of a Christmassy ghost thrill.

- Mark Gatiss

When I was seven or eight, I was bought a fantastic book called 'The Movie Treasury of Horror Movies' by Alan G. Frank; it became my bible. It's packed full of the most amazing photos and is still fantastic to look at.

- Mark Gatiss

The question I ask myself is: have I really just become a squeamish middle-aged man, or has something happened to the horror genre that shows a growing appetite for watching torture, or at least a desire to explore it on film? And if so, why would that be? I can't pretend I know. I just know I don't like it.

- Mark Gatiss

I love the Shakespeare history plays; I love the struggle for the crown as a plot.

- Mark Gatiss

The thing is, horror is a big part of 'Sherlock Holmes.' Doyle also wrote a lot of great horror stories, so there's a lot more horror in 'Holmes' that people possibly think of. There's a lot of curses and mysticism and real scares.

- Mark Gatiss

They are called 'Emos' now, and before that they were 'Goths.' They didn't have a name for it when I was one, but I was that black-wearing teenager and yes, I wore a little eyeliner.

- Mark Gatiss

I always wanted to do Restoration comedy. It seems like so much fun.

- Mark Gatiss

One of the pleasures of the original 'Grimm's Fairy Tales' is how incredibly ghastly they are. The ugly sisters have their eyes pecked out by crows.

- Mark Gatiss

My dad was quite a forbidding figure. I realise now that that was mainly because he worked so hard. He wasn't unkind, but he was a presence.

- Mark Gatiss

Sci-fi and fantasy used to be a TV staple throughout my childhood. Then it just stopped dead. It was seen as culty, a minority interest.

- Mark Gatiss

I am a gay man who loves James Bond films and snooker - all kinds of working-class pursuits.

- Mark Gatiss

Slightly forgettable movies can sometimes make great musicals.

- Mark Gatiss

I love going to galleries, particularly the National Portrait Gallery.

- Mark Gatiss

I think a lot of people who say they are bisexual aren't.

- Mark Gatiss

Europe is so much the home of Horror, with its myths of vampires, werewolves, witchcraft and the undead, yet it's like those myths were exported to Hollywood, leaving Europe the room to develop a new tradition as a way of processing its traumas, particularly the two world wars.

- Mark Gatiss

Grooming-wise, it is now a constant battle as I progressively turn into my father. I have to keep on top of ear and nose hair - things you never believe will happen to you. Suddenly I have a shaving brush in my ear and I don't know where it's come from, and the more hair I take the out, the more it surges back.

- Mark Gatiss

'Misfits' is one of my favorite shows; I think it's a fantastic show.

- Mark Gatiss

I used to go to the gym regularly and swim an awful lot, but that was when I was unemployed and knew leisure intimately.

- Mark Gatiss

At school I briefly wanted to be a palaeontologist, but I was no good at chemistry and physics.

- Mark Gatiss

It's a cliche, but it's true that all the fun lies in baddies, grotesques and comic roles.

- Mark Gatiss

The first film I can remember seeing on TV was 'The Brides of Dracula.' I was instantly hooked.

- Mark Gatiss

I'm a great believer in the beauty and the power of surprise.

- Mark Gatiss

I'm an actor and a writer, that's how I think of myself. Sometimes my time is divided equally, sometimes less equally, but that's what I do.

- Mark Gatiss

All films speak to their times. It becomes obvious only after.

- Mark Gatiss

I'm terribly nostalgic, but I'm with the Elizabethans who thought nostalgia was a disease. It's a dangerous place to be because you can get caught up in it.

- Mark Gatiss

I grew up with low self-esteem. I didn't think I was very pretty. I had glasses, red hair and was generally quite a spod.

- Mark Gatiss

For some reason, I always get offered plays when I'm doing plays and then, if I stop doing them, people stop asking me.

- Mark Gatiss

I had a girlfriend before I ever had a boyfriend, but it was just a phase.

- Mark Gatiss

Even when I was a child, I always wanted to be older. I realised just in time that it's a mistake and to enjoy my youth while I had it.

- Mark Gatiss