A couple of guys won Academy Awards for the things that I turned down. Today, after coming to terms with everything, after being in therapy for a long time-there are areas where I will compromise.

When I did Sean Penn’s movie, I think I was living in, like, a $500-a-month room, and someone called me up or bumped into me and asked me if I’d come up to work for a day. That sort of got me going a little bit. But it wasn’t until Sin City [2005] that I kind of got back into the game.

Being out of work for 13 to 15 years is no walk in the park.

I did think for many, many years that because of my ability I could beat the system. And I was wrong.

Where I come from, being a hard man is being able to take a good beating and then get back up again and carry on fighting.

A lot of those who let you down are those who seemed the closest to you.

Wrestling and boxing is like Ping-Pong and rugby. There's no connection.