I don't watch dailies. I don't pretend not to read reviews, I just don't. I wait for it to come on the air, just like everybody else.

I love the theater, but if I had to choose, I would choose a film at this time in my life. Something meaty, to sink my teeth into.

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.

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

Meryl Streep's brilliant, just brilliant. I've been fortunate to do two movies with Meryl. And for an actor to go moment to moment like she does, there's no one better. And she dances between moments. Each take is different because she's riding instincts, she's riding impulses. And she trusts that.

I never starved. And you know, whatever talent I have, I've relied on that, versus image or star.

I just never did buy this idea that you have to live in Los Angeles to be an actor. I didn't see that as a requirement in my job description.