The biggest compliment I think an actor can get is I can't imagine anyone else in the role.

I know there are people, if I go into a market or a city for the first time, there are people that are there that just want to see the famous person, or the guy from 'Dumb and Dumber' or whatever movie they liked. And that's fine, it gets them in the door, but then it's my job to give them something different.

I never said, 'I'm going to be a big star.' I said, 'I'm going to be a good actor.' And that took the pressure off.

I learned a long time ago that the show you're going to see isn't the one you have in your head. As soon as you understand that, you're going to enjoy it a lot more.

There is no best anything in art. Phillip [Hoffman] isn't better than Heath [Ledger]; Joaquin [Phoenix] isn't better than David [Strathairn] or Terence [Howard]. They aren't better than me. We all do different things. It's more of a celebration of a lot of great work than to give the gold to somebody. The underappreciated factor certainly has gone away.

And the actors tend not to want to watch themselves very often. I'm one of those guys.

Are we just pretending to be unhappy so that we can add drama to our lives, so that we seem more substantial?