So to compare your real life, or your partner or lover or whoever to a character in a movie, you're setting yourself up for disappointment. They don't map.

While I'm not a celebrity, it's such a weird concept that society has cooked up for us. Astronauts and teachers are much more amazing than actors.

Astronauts and teachers are much more amazing than actors.

Sometimes what someone else does is really not what you expected them to do, which to be honest, sometimes doesn't work.

Normally you read a screenplay - and I read a lot of them - and the characters don't feel like people. They feel like plot devices or cliches or stereotypes.

Our culture has a tendency to pigeonhole people and to try to tear down anybody who's breaking out of our comfort zone. That's why we get into these cultural ruts that end up being destructive prejudices. But breaking out of that comfort zone is the most rewarding thing you can do, in your life. I do my best to push myself, when I can.

I knew that if I wanted to really maintain control, I would have to keep the budget down. And I did. And I feel very fortunate that - y'know, this movie [Don Jon] - frame for frame, line for line - is exactly what I wanted it to be. Nobody made me change anything.