I like being fooled. When I watch someone who does sleight-of-hand and fools me, it's a great feeling.

I never talk much about my family, but my grandfather was friendly with these guys, with magicians and ventriloquists on the highest levels, and I was just interested.

Sitting with a deck of cards in your hand all day is an obsession. Visiting print shops and bookstores and libraries is an obsession. And writing about this is an obsession. I think, in general, most collectors are obsessed. I think the only form of a rationalized greed is when you're collecting something you are supposedly serious about.

The pain is bad magicians ripping off good ones, doing magic badly, and making a mockery of the art.

Maybe the the luxury of not having acting be my only profession is that I can be more selective about what I choose to be in. I've been really lucky in terms of film projects with people, terrific actors and also writers and directors that I really respect.

That's one of the ways language evolved, by some very obscure form becoming common usage. And I must say that I'm very intrigued by use of language and slang, and criminal underground terms.

I wouldn't want to try to make a living as an actor. I think actors... I give them a lot of credit for what they go through, but putting myself on the line like that would make me crazy.