I discovered martial arts, first judo and then karate.

My problem is that people get intimidated by someone big and beautiful like me. They hate to think I can be smart as well.

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

You really have to work hard to create a three-dimensional character. You have to rehearse and explore and take your time. You can't just memorize your lines and do it on the fly.

I think religious movies are more of a subset of the broader historical trend, and also the fact that there is more history in Europe, whereas in America, America is about the future. People in Europe think more of the past, and that's why I think filmmakers are drawn to it more.

In the normal life of an actor or director, running around, there's not much time to go to church. But there's other ways to be spiritual, too.

I think we are affected so much by mythical stories and biblical stories, our society being based on the Bible - at least the old society is based on biblical terms and laws - that there's more of it in art than people realize. Sometimes it comes to the surface, but sometimes it's below the surface, but certainly, it does influence some of my movies.