The Ghost Writer

"[Dictating to The Ghost] Turned me on, indeed. Let's see, I was 23, something like that, a couple of years out of Cambridge. And I remember it was a Sunday afternoon, it was raining. I was still in bed. And someone starts knocking at the door. And, you know, I'd been out the night before and had a few drinks and what have you. So, I get the pillow and I put it over my head, and it starts up again. Knock, knock, knock, knock! And I get up, I'm swearing, I go to the door and there's this girl. She's soaking wet, but she just launches into this speech about the local elections. And that's it. I'm in love."

"[On his head-of-state jet to The Ghost] Spare me the bleeding-heart bullshit! Do you know what I'd do if I was in power again? I'd have two queues at airports: one for flights where we'd done no background checks, infringed on no one's civil bloody liberties, used no intelligence gained by torture. And on the other flight we'd do everything we possibly could to make it perfectly safe. And then we'd see which plane the Rycarts of this world would put their bloody kids on! And you can put that in the book!"

"[To Rycart on television] You cheeky fuck!"

"He was having dinner with the Vice President. That bloody Bly woman wouldn't even give him the phone. Oh, God. Oh, dear God. What's he got himself mixed up in? [Starts to sob]"

"[Burying face in between The Ghost's face and shoulder] I'm scared. I've never been scared in my life before, but I am now."

"[To The Ghost getting out of bed] The modesty of the morning after?"

"Perhaps I'll write my own memoirs. Ex-Prime Minister's Wife Tells All."

"[To bodyguard] If we meet any terrorists, I'll text you."

"I feel like the wife of Napoleon on St. Helena."

"And you're a Brit. The ghost should be a Brit. [Mimics English accent] To get the jolly old tone right, right?"

"[To The Ghost] Hey! Remember... [Pats chest saying in English accent] Heart."

"[Reacting to an old picture of Lang, taken in his college days with a marijuana joint] Let's hope he didn't inhale."

"A less equable man than I might start to find your questions impertinent."

"I doubt it very much. The gate will open automatically. Be sure to make a right at the bottom of the drive. If you turn left, the road will take you deeper into the woods and you may never be seen again."

"[About his wall of framed photos] Oh yes, the wall of ego. We all have one, our equivalent of the dentist's fish tank."

"[At Rhinehart publishing house security check] Who are you expecting to bomb you, Random House?"

"[To Amelia asking about his hotel] Monastic."

"Use it? I think we should open the whole book like this. "I went into politics out of love, not love for a party or an ideology, but out of love for a woman.""

"Your hair's all wet, you're drenched. Let me get you a towel. [Goes to bathroom and whispers in mirror] Bad idea."

"[Consoling Ruth] It's all right. Everything'll be all right."

"Forty thousand years of human language, and there's no word to describe our relationship. It was doomed."

"[Reading the first words of Adam Lang's manuscript] "Langs are Scottish folk originally and proud of it. Our name is a derivation of 'long', the Old English word for tall, and it is from North of the border that my forefathers hail." Fu...ck."

"Well all the words are there, they're just in the wrong order."

"[On phone to agent] Some peace protesters are trying to kill me!"

"[Seeing last page number of manuscript in taxi] Oh, God."

"You name it, he ghosts it."

"Get some sleep on the plane. You're sounding weird. "A tethered goat." I'll call you next week."

"[To The Ghost] Okay, a quiz for you. Name one decision Lang made in 10 years as Prime Minister which wasn't in the interests of the USA. Well, come on, it's not a trick question. Iraq, Middle East policy, Star Wars defense, buying American nuclear missiles, support of terrorist rendition. The sacking of any minister Washington didn't like, including yours truly. McAra was right. This explains everything."

"He can't drown two ghost writers, for god sake. You're not kittens!"

"[Speaking to mobile link after The Ghost has been deliberately vehicle rammed] This one looks nasty. Yeah, it's just happened just now. Yeah, if you could."

"Ewan McGregor - The Ghost"

"Pierce Brosnan - Adam Lang"

"Kim Cattrall - Amelia Bly"

"Olivia Williams - Ruth Lang"

"Tom Wilkinson - Paul Emmett"

"Timothy Hutton - Sidney Kroll"

"Jon Bernthal - Rick Ricardelli"

"Tim Preece - Roy Quigley"

"Robert Pugh - Richard Rycart"

"James Belushi - John Maddox"

"David Rintoul - the Stranger"