The first thing I do when I start my day is, I get down on my hands and knees and give thanks to God. Whenever I go outside of my house, the first thing I do is stop at the church.

Clooney is just a pretty boy, man, and that's it, OK? I carried him on my back long enough. I'm on my own.

When you think about the person responsible for creating the character and the dialogue, Bill Monahan, who's a Boston guy, obviously, his words roll off my tongue quite nicely.

Pretty early on in making the first movie I realized that this is what I wanted to do. I felt like by that time I just found my niche, like this is what I was supposed to be doing. So I completely submerged myself into the world of watching movies, making my own movies, buying video cameras and lights. When I wasn't making a movie, I was making my own movies. When I wasn't making movies, I was watching movies. I was going back and studying film and looking back at guys that were perceived as great guys that I can identify with. It just became my life.

Okay, we're going to land somewhere safely, don't worry.

Look, if you're driving down the highway at 120 miles an hour, I'd rather be behind the wheel than in the backseat.

In my movies, I'm not trying to erase any old image of myself, really. And also I'm not trying to imitate anyone or follow in their footsteps, because I know, Burt Reynolds was just one of the people that told me this, I know how you can only last in this business if you got something special to offer, just by being yourself.