I really approached the film as if it was a white big piece of paper and I was going to draw a picture on it. And whether that picture was good or bad, whatever people thought of it, what they could never take away was that it was my picture.

If someone were to harm my family or a friend or somebody I love, I would eat them. I might end up in jail for 500 years, but I would eat them.

When I see someone who just follows their dream and succeeds, and just does basically what they want to do and doesn't have to answer to anyone, obviously not harming anyone, that's great.

Here I was going to work with Pacino thinking, "I'm not going to get lucky twice. There's no way. This guy is going to hand me my ass." He looks like the kind of guy who's going to hand you your ass. It's Al Pacino.

I realized that it was great to have a job, but it didn't have anything remotely to do with what I was striving for, so why was I doing it?

I had never experienced anything like the response I got from people for Pirates of the Caribbean, where you meet a 75-year-old woman who had seen Pirates and somehow related to the character, and then five minutes later you meet a six-year-old who says, 'Oh, you're Captain Jack!' What a rush. What a gift. That was the challenge with Wonka, too--to be, in a sense, like Bugs Bunny. I find it magical that a three-year-old can be mesmerized by Bugs, but so can a 40-year-old or an 80-year-old. It's a great challenge to see if you can appeal to that huge an age range.

I always had an affinity for lizards. I've always felt somewhat close to them. They're reptiles. I find myself feeling somewhat reptilian at times.