I don't want people to know anything about me, because that's not important. I'm more interested in the me that takes shape through the characters.

Socially, I like the idea of sitting in a theater with a bunch of people.

When I was a kid I was very interested in the idea of the will, finding out what you're capable of. I liked those kind of challenges.

I feel like it's important to be flexible, particularly when I'm coming in late in the game and I'm connective tissue in the story. I'm not at the very center. It's important for me to have a certain kind of flexibility and try to help people do what they need to do.

While we have a very strong popular culture, the roots of American culture are very shallow, and we put emphasis on how a movie does as far as the box office goes. Many years ago, it would have been vulgar to print box - office grosses in the paper. Now The New York Times does it, and it's the big story for people interested in arts and entertainment on Monday. Which is why emphasis has shifted away from filmmakers and fallen on movie stars and business people.

I've been in very few flat-out comedies. But I feel like I've always made comedies.

The English Patient' is about the coming together of a French-Canadian nurse, an English patient, a Sikh in a turban and me, Caravaggio, and each of us is seeking a resolution to our own problems.