It was closer to manual labor than shooting a film. I always think of something Michael Caton-Jones told me: 'Pain is temporary. Film is forever.'

Obviously people don't want other people to tell them how to think or what to believe, or to tell them what's right politically and what's wrong.

I am not a scientist, but I don't need to be.

When I was doing 'This Boy's Life' I wanted to be as old as Robert DeNiro and as experienced as him and have the same respect as he did in that movie.

I didn't even know what I did in 'What's Eating Gilbert Grape'. I just went off with whatever I felt instinctually without a second thought.

Since I was very young I've been fascinated with nature and I actually wanted to be a marine biologist when I was very young. That was a great passion of mine. So I suppose in the off season when I'm not making movies, I became more and more active as an environmentalist trying to be more vocal about issues that I felt were important.

I've gotten to play some pretty intense characters and I tend to think it's therapeutic for me.