Literacy could be the ladder out of poverty

Once you've gotten the job, there's nothing to it. If you're an actor, you're an actor. Doing it is not the hard part. The hard part is getting to do it.

Audiences believe what you believe. It's a matter of believing yourself. If I believe me, then you've got no choice. None at all.

No one is really a method actor, everyone has their way of going about it, preparing for it, but method is preparation, it's what you do to prepare. So my method is to read the script. Some actors' method is to read the script a hundred times and in the doing of it, to immerse themselves in as much of the reality as possible. Me, I believe strictly in acting. If I am out of breath, I'm out of breath. I ain't running nowhere.

People say it's a movie about boxing, but... I don't agree at all. I don't think it's a movie about boxing. Boxing is like a platform. It's just a stage where this is played out.

I avoid seeing myself while I'm working on role so I won't see "me."

The main thing about awards in movies is that they can serve as an economic surge for the film. If you're movie gets nominated for any award it does it a big favour. People might go and see it again... they won't give up on it.