When I got the job, I was sure that I wasn't going to get the job because Tom Cruise almost got the job.

It's good to experience Hollywood in short bursts, I guess. Little snippets. I don't think I can handle being here all the time, it's pretty nutty.

One thing that's been a great, uplifting experience through all this is, since the first "Pirates" [movie], the people who've gone to see the films, the audience members. You meet people on the street - whether they're 5, 25, 65 or 85 - they've all had the same experience, and they've all enjoyed it. So that's what keeps me moving forward in this crazy process.

I would give everything if I could only keep my family.

Well, having no intelligence, I'm looking forward to gaining some, whether artificial, superficial or super-duper.

Everything here is edible; even I'm edible. But that, dear children, is cannibalism, and is in fact frowned upon in most societies.

In terms of it being a first screenplay, literally, my hat is off to him [Wally Pfister]. I didn't see any virgin blather in screen direction, or anything like that. It was just a wonderfully executed piece, and a complicated one. The mathematics involved in putting this film together, between Jack and Wally, and the great support of Alcon, it was not a easy little operetta.