You know, some of the action stuff, I tend to have a pretty good sense of humor about it. Even when I direct and have a lot of pressure, it teaches me to laugh at stuff. I think that comes also from sports, from combat sports, where you've got to learn to laugh at it and take it in stride. Otherwise, you just can't deal with it.

Everybody's life has some mythical quality. You struggle against obstacles, you fight to get to a higher level and there are great loves.

When you're directing you're kind of interested in the movie and the story and the characters. I just sort of prefer the really tough fighting and some of the other street fighting type moves. You know, where it's not just show. It's not dressing it up for the cameras too much. It's pretty down and dirty, the way it should be. That's something I like to do. I do that.

It takes nine months for a baby to develop, it takes nine months to develop a character.

My sensei was a British karate champion named Brian Fitkin. He was my mentor and because I had a hard relationship with my dad, he became a father figure to me.

There are a lot of great athletes who stop working out, and they get out of shape like everybody else in their 30s and 40s.

I was this Swedish kid who came over here to study engineering, but I got into movies, and suddenly I'm in this 'Rocky' picture with Sylvester Stallone. And then the movie comes out, and it's a big hit, and I'm famous. Like, world famous. I wasn't thinking of ruling Hollywood; I was thinking of just trying to make it to the next day, trying to figure out what the hell happened.