Rupert Everett 'laughed too much'

Rupert Everett says he could have done more to stop himself being "pigeonholed" in Hollywood.

The star, 53, who recently appeared as Benedict Cumberbatch's brother in BBC Two's adaptation of Parade's End, is in cinemas as the co-inventor of the vibrator in period drama Hysteria.

But the My Best Friend's Wedding said of his younger years: "I think, in a way, the pigeonhole was my fault. If I was starting at acting school now, there are certain things you shouldn't do.

"One of my problems was, and partly through neurosis probably, I was always laughing at everything, always laughing at myself or sending it all up.

"You have to be very, very serious about things and then you will be taken more seriously. The actors of my generation who are very successful are the ones who are really very serious."

Rupert, who has released his second autobiography Vanished Years, is focusing on making his own films.

He's cast his St Trinian's co-star Colin Firth in a film he's hoping to make next year about his literary hero Oscar Wilde.

"I wrote it about five or six years ago and, little by little, I'm edging towards getting it made. I've got the cast, I've got some of the money, I'm just getting the rest," he said.