The guy [Tom Cruise] is a machine.

For some roles, like when I was doing Bent, that was harder and I didn't find that helpful because I was so calorie deprived, my brain wasn't getting food. I would end up not being as focused or as clearheaded as I would have liked to be during the run of the performances. I would lose those quality impulses that you lean on when you're acting because of malnutrition. basically. But I looked skinny.

The role I played [in theatre] was originated by Ian McKellen in 1979 and he came. I didn't know he was there and I walked out at the end of the play, which is a very intense play - my character is required to do some really horrible things - and the director was waiting backstage and he goes, "Obviously I didn't want to tell you guys, but Ian was here today" and we, of course, freaked out.Ian McKellen said some really beautiful, kind things, one of which was, "It's so much harder to watch than it is to do."

I change myself a lot. Some roles you don't want to be big, bulky, muscle-y guy and some roles you want to be a lean, marathon-runner physical type. And some roles you just don't want to be in shape.

You're working so hard and so many hours, you simply don't get to visit with everybody when you're gone for five months. That's part of the trade in we make with this career. You don't get to maintain the intimacy you would like to.One of the big things I was doing was working on reestablishing that.

I want to make sure everything has my 100%.

The guy [Tom Cruise] is a machine.