With the movies, you do your preparation on your own. It's much more internalized and ... the actual performance is a kind of, just trying to capture one moment at a time, for the first time.

I'm a restless person. I get bored very quickly, particularly with myself. I've used acting as an escape and a way to channel my nervous energy. So I've always looked to find a role that's as different from the one before it. I need change and variety or start to feel depressed.

Barry Levinson is such a deceptive director, because he seems really lackadaisical. I'd never worked with him before, and I almost got the impression that he didn't really care that much because he was so laid-back. Sometimes we'd finish filming hours before the day was over, which is just unthinkable in any other film experience I've had. I couldn't believe that Barry had the passion for it.

You have to be in movies that make money to be offered work. Basically that's the equation. There's no real way around that. That said, you don't ever make decisions solely for that reason.

The research period of a film is the most exciting part of the process, and filming is sometimes a letdown because when you're dealing with biopic material, the real thing is always much more intricate than the story told in the film.

I don't separate Robert DeNiro's comedy from the serious stuff. The one thing I realize working with him in all of his work, is that he doesn't do anything unless something happens to him in scenes - unless something happens to make him react. He never came in with a set idea of how he was going to do it, he never came in with guns blazing. He would just show up and wait to see what happened.

I guess Ive always wanted to push the boundaries as an actor.