Mark Twain had a way of telling stories that shifts your consciousness away from labels.

I love acting, and doing it well matters to me.

I think part of my reputation has to do with the difficult roles I've played. Actors do tend to get identified with their characters.

There are lots of actors who are awful people, but nobody talks about them being awful because they've made billions.

It's important to be yourself. What art does for everyone, helps you understand yourself and in a distilled way, whether it's a painting or a scene in acting or a joke. It distills something about everyday life that can be important to you.

There are some directors I should have worked with. I`d like to have worked with Robert Altman - I turned him down a couple of times when I was younger. My thing now is if it`s a good director I`ll never say no - I`m just gonna say yes from now on.

Acting is not a science. Anybody who believes that their success exists in relation to their goals is deluding themselves; unless you think of a career in terms of financial goals. I have nothing against Tom Cruise, but he must have a large capacity to deal with the business side of movies.