A good actor's director, first of all, is prepared, so there's not an exorbitant amount of wasted footage.

I got an agent. He said, what do you wanna do, and I said, I want an Oscar nomination. That's your job, that's what I'm paying you for. And I got it.

If I like the story and it's well written, and it's a character I want to play and they'll pay me, then I decide to do it.

I've always felt it's the directors purview to say what; it's the actor's purview to say how. It's not good for an actor to have the big picture in mind - it bollocks you up. An actor's purview is the tiny little... We measure our performance in seconds.

It sure is boring to be around people who are in character all the time. I always find it's closer to mental illness than acting excellence.

All that back-story stuff doesn't help. What you get paid for is to stand toe-to-toe with the other actor and get him to do your will.

I was a dog in a past life. Really. I'll be walking down the street and dogs will do a sort of double take. Like, Hey, I know him.