You only get one shot in your life and you might as well push yourself and try things. There's so many interesting aspects of making a movie; the costume department, the set design, the casting itself, the locations. It's a great, great thing to be involved in if you have the headspace for it, and I do. Try anything once.

In Hollywood, people get reputations, just rumors that are passed down.

Musclemen grow on trees. They can tense their muscles and look good in a mirror. So what? I'm interested in practical strength that's going to help me run, jump, twist, punch.

You ain't ever gonna get an Academy Award for doing 'Crank,' and you certainly won't for doing all the other movies I've done.

A franchise is dictated on the success of doing one film right, so if you can get it done correctly, you've got a chance of something else, but sometimes it just doesn't work that way. Ideally, it's insurance for the future; if you can do something, if you can find a character that people really do like, then you're very lucky.

Growing up where I did, you met a lot of colorful characters whose business was on the other side of the law, or more likely you didn't know what they were up to, and you never would. So playing those kinds of characters now, I can draw on that. The rest of it, you can practice or learn from books. But mostly, I draw from my experiences. That's all I have, you know.

Well, I'm used to rubbing shoulders with crooks and criminals.