The Oscars have become such a big deal these days that it's just used as adjective.

There are all kinds of other things I could do, things I would probably like, but only acting would give me emotional fulfillment.

I take the responsibility of choosing seriously because it becomes an indelible part of your body of work. Something has to sing to me.

That's the thing about acting - it does have the feeling of downhill skiing. When it's really all going right, you know your lines, you know what's important to your character, you pick the strongest reactions possible to elements in the story. But then you let it all go and you're in the moment and stuff happens. It surprises you and it's super strong; it's like you're living life in a slightly heightened way in the time between "action" and "cut."

I hope that doing truthful portrayals of people in a variety of circumstances gives people a kind of subterranean link to those characters.

I try to become more humble and more myself with every year. There was a while when I got famous where I was so confused and my head was spinning.

[My choice about scripts] is just a question of what I fall in love with. You have to use some kind of instinct meter about it. I think I'm getting closer to my instincts now. I don't think there needs to be a plan. I think there needs to be love. I think you need to love what you're doing and then the rest is anybody's guess.