Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton admitted she’s not “really that interested in acting”, instead calling it a “habit”.

Speaking ahead of the release of A Bigger Splash in the US, the 55-year-old star of The Deep End and Only Lovers Left Alive told the Associated Press: “I’m never really that interested in acting, to be honest with you.

Tilda Swinton
Tilda Swinton called herself a “wanderer” rather than an actor (Evan Agostini/Invision)

“I can quite understand it must sound crazy, given that I’ve been doing this for 30 years. What I need is this feeling of not knowing what I’m doing. Genuinely this feeling of beginner’s mind, constantly.”

She continued: “I’m just sort of unfolding things. Just constantly unfolding things with no pressure.

“I’m not exactly professional. In a way I have no plans. And I like that. I’m a kind of wanderer.”

Her “habit”, which has earned her multiple awards and critical acclaim, is linked to her ideas on identity.

Tilda and co-star Ralph Fiennes (Andy Kropa/AP/PA)
Tilda and A Bigger Splash co-star Ralph Fiennes (Andy Kropa/AP/PA)

“I simply do not buy that identity isn’t fluid. I’m not sure that identity exists.

“For a long time, I noticed that the stories I was drawn to making were the stories of people who were caught in a concept of ‘OK, that’s me’ and they came up against a wall and had to transform.”

She believes that, “Life is just a series of choices, and the gamut’s pretty wide… Constantly these opportunities are there for us. We just have to know to take advantage of it.

“That’s what I feel about identity. That’s the thing that keeps me falling into the habit of performing.”

A Bigger Splash sees her play rock star Marianne Lane, who shuts herself away on the Sicilian island of Pantelleria with her boyfriend (Matthew Schoenaerts) to rest her voice after undergoing surgery on her vocal chords.

But their reprieve is interrupted by her hard-living producer and former flame Harry (Ralph Fiennes) and his newly discovered daughter (Dakota Johnson).

It was Tilda’s idea to make Marianne (a David Bowie-Chrissie Hynde hybrid on the stage) nearly mute, speaking only occasionally in a raspy voice.

Mourning the loss of her mother at the time, Tilda was attracted to the silence. It would also submerge much of the film’s dramatics below the surface, she reasoned.

“I like to be quiet and I also like listening,” said Tilda.

“I was able to kind of download what she was up to, which is basically listening to everybody else. And that’s my preferred position in general.”

She will next play the Ancient One in Doctor Strange, alongside Benedict Cumberbatch.