I can safely say that I had an incredibly difficult and trying past growing up and trying to be an artist and standing up as who I am in this world.

I've never cared about how successful or how big I was going to be. I just wanted to be part of a story that affected people, made them laugh or cry. To me, that was more important than having my face on some billboard.

I at least felt the obligation to speak clearly [in 'The Last Tycoon']. This is pre-Brando and pre-James Dean. Nobody mumbled back then.

The last thing I want to do is having someone get behind a Montgomery Clift biopic, and then just do the first script that came out. Sometimes it takes a long time for these things to gestate. And I'm only going to do it if it's the right story that's told for the right reason, and that's relevant to this day and age, as much as it pays homage to who this man was. Should that happen during the time when I'm still young enough to play him, perfect. And if not, hopefully someone else will get to play him because I do think it's an incredible story.

The best experience for me at CMU was being on stage so much, getting that comfort ability and learning that technique you can use with any type of work because you’re comfortable with it and know your skill as an actor.

Certainly when you're dealing with more deep emotional work and sensory work, for me it helps me to just stay in it.

It's so rare, especially as a younger actor, to find a role where it's not just one-dimensional and it's not just a stock leading man.