I have a tight family group that's really important to me. I don't want to work all the time.

You look at a guy like Lance Armstrong, and you have to be inspired. I sat next to Kirk Douglas the other day, and he's inspiring for fighting through his stroke

I chose films made by people I wanted to work with, about subject matter I thought was intriguing.

You can mostly forget ethnic or religious differences. The competition for a bigger share of the oil proceeds is behind much of the fighting

When I decided to direct, never having done that before, is something I'm very proud of

I'm not an activist per se, but I have strong feelings about things. People can jump on celebrities for being ill-informed or naive, but I've got a right to say what I believe

I'm an actor who loves to direct film, if I find something that I'm compelled to do and want to spend three or four years doing. I really love the process, though. I might have to just say, "Yeah, I want to direct that," because I want to direct something, but that's just not the way my being is. It's got to be a necessity for me, otherwise I'll just keep acting.