Film, for me, has been a process of learning on the job.

Film, for me, has been a process of learning on the job.

I play Edward G. Robinson [in Trumbo], who was a close friend and a co-worker of Dalton's [Trumbo]. They worked together on at least one or two screenplays. A lot of these stories take famous people and show you who they are behind the scenes, which is kind of fun. One of the things about getting to play Edward G. Robinson was learning who the man was away from his movie-star exterior.

It's nice to be able to challenge myself by playing real people. But at the same time it utilizes a different part of the brain to just invent new things.

I love Seth Rogen's line in which he talks about how you can be both a genius and decent at the same time.

The bitterest truth is better than the sweetest lie.

I was raised in a reform synagogue. I think we all bring with us a sense of when hard things happen to us, we find ourselves asking questions of why are these things happening to me at this time in my life. I think in that sense, there's a certain resonance that I carry. It's more of a spiritual resonance as opposed to particularly of Judaism.