How many movies do you see when you can say this director really knew what film he wanted to make? I can count them on the fingers of one hand.

The work I enjoy is when the camera rolls, and I like the work in the moment.

I had a guitar when I was 6 or 7, a plastic guitar with the Beatles' faces on it. It would be a collector's item now. It would fetch a hefty sum, I imagine.

Impressionists have to paint with a very broad stroke because you've got to see it within a couple of seconds. You go, "That's a really funny Robert De Niro." As an actor, though, you look at different aspects of a character. I try to completely surround myself with the assignment. It's like being in a big cloud and then some of it rains through.

Shakespeare doesn't really write subtext, you play the subtext.

My passion and energy get mistaken for anger.

Your own barometer is all you have to go by, and often what makes a good director is knowing when not to say something. On occasions you can find yourself on a film set where the person who is wearing the director's hat is only trying to justify his position.