HENRY CAVILL TALKS ABOUT HIS INTERESTS & PHILOSOPHY

"In school I had an interest in ancient history and Egyptology in particular. There was a historical fiction writer named Christian Jacq who wrote a series of books, sort of Egyptology-based, and I really enjoyed them. I thought, 'If I'm going to study something, why not make it something I really enjoy?' The idea was to get a degree in ancient history or Egyptology and have the armed forces sponsor me through university. And join the armed forces afterward." (source)

"I've always been a fan of stories from mythology and history.  As a kid, I enjoyed reading it and growing up with it." (source)

"I've always been a fan of these sort of worlds, the imagery and fantasy, so it wasn't too much of a stretch to get there in the first place. I think we get too focused on making oldy-woldy stuff seem oldy-woldy. It wasn't any different, really. It was a long time ago, and we may have spoken a different language and worn different clothes, but people were the same. There were bullies and love and laughter and teasing and fun and games and family and drinking and sex and violence and betrayal. Those things are still part of who we are, and those things make great stories." (source)

"(Visiting Istanbul) I found out that the Bosphorus (the strait that separates Europe from Asia) was cut by Zeus. I've always been interested in mythology and history in general. When it comes to mythology, it's even better because it is a made-up story in the interpreter's tale, but when you hear that kind of thing, you are delving into someone else's imagination." (source)

"Always be yourself, because you can't be anyone else." (source)

[on what enables him to play a hero] "I think the same thing that's in any man or woman. It's that opportunity to be that hero when you were a kid and swing your stick around playing knights, soldiers or cowboys. We want to do right. We want to save the world and to be good at what you're doing. We want to be turned to, to be relied upon – all of those things." (source)

"What mythology is and the tales of heroes are is a set of ideals represented by individuals. In Superman it's a very clear ideal. With the Greek myth characters, it's a bit more circumspect. They have a lot more in the way of flaws. There are obviously similarities because these characters are representatives of what the ideals are. Hopefully kids will see that and take the good messages from it rather than just going around stabbing people with a spear." (source)