I've decided as an actor the only, the power I have really is in the performance. It's the only real place I get to sort of communicate.

We were talking about the kissing in the movie just recently. Clearly, it's pretty challenging material, but Ang said two men herding sheep was far more sexual than two men having sex on screen.

In a perfect world, I would love to do one play for every three movies.

It's one of the most beautiful scripts [Brokeback Mountain] I've ever read, and it was Ang Lee, and at the time Heath [Ledger] was a friend of mine - before we even shot the movie - and always sort of alluring to me.

Romance is important, but to have a friend you can use as a mirror, who can give you an objective response, that's what's really important.

I was brought up, and my sister too, with two people who were always saying, "What you do is really nowhere near as important as the things that are going on in the world, and if your work needs to reflect that, or you want it to, then you need to strive for a certain type of excellence."

Sometimes you need an anchor, whatever it might be. You need a space to connect. So often you get into a way of doing things.