I had four years of auditions, and nothing happened, until Francis Ford Coppola took a shot on me ['Tetro' in 2009]. I hadn't done a film, and suddenly I was the lead.

[Woody Allen] does very few takes, and he doesn't give a whole ton of directions, although he does give direction.

Same with the Coen brothers and Warren [Beatty]. And then slowly you get to know each one of them as a person, and that becomes a kind of separate entity, where you just know the human being.

I'd never worked with an actor-director before [Warren Beatty].

I've definitely been spoilt. Every movie I've done, it's always the same criteria: finding a great story, and finding a great part to play.

Elia Kazan - the films he made were such a big deal for me when I was growing up.

I did my first film with Francis Ford Copploa which spoiled the hell out of me.