If someone asked for advice on being an actor I'd say "Don't. It's a hard life." And if they walked away I'd be happy to have spared them years of misery.

The live audience is a blind date. The camera is a hungry lover. One wants to be wined and dined and seduced and then decide where the evening will go. The other knows how it wants to be touched, wants it now and can damn well tell if you are lying about it. Both are fickle. Both feel good. Depends on your mood.

Abraham Lincoln is the guy who could never be elected today, but whom we desperately wish we could elect.

Abraham Lincoln was a melancholy man, so he had a dark side that appeals to horror fans.

I love swimming in the darker seas, so even if I play a noble guy (well, like Lincoln for instance) I am pre-disposed to try and show the conflict; the regret; the less-than-perfect choices that any human faces. That's what I like and it seems to be what the camera likes to see me do.

Lincoln could be on the moon. He's still Lincoln.

I want to be Lon Chaney. I want to be Karloff. I want to help people escape the mundane world. I want to make their skins crawl. And I want them to love it every bit as much as I do.