Losing a parent makes you realize how temporary everything is - you're looking through someone's whole life in a drawer, and they're very simply gone.
We all have movies for times in our lives when we really need something.
In college, I was teetering on the edge: Do I want to be an actor? Do I not want to be an actor? And then I saw Michael Caine in 'Alfie,' and I thought, 'Wow, that's what I want to do with my life,' even if I knew I'd never reach that level of proficiency.
Sometimes you read things that people don't even notice in a performance, that you just are moved by or understand that this actor is really living his or her life on the screen. The first time I realized that was when I watched Brando in 'On the Waterfront.'
You find movies when you need them. They may not always be the best films, but they speak to you.
The truth is you only have yourself to offer. And when you come to that realization, it's terrifying, because you think it's probably not enough.
I'd like to play the whale in 'Moby Dick.' If I keep eating, I may end up getting there.
When I was about 12, I came home from middle school and told my parents I wanted to be an actor. My father didn't say it to me, but he told my mom, 'No. I'm not going to allow that. He'll starve to death.' I grew up in a small town in Illinois where being an actor was not something people did.
Rehearsal for film is tough. Until the camera's there, everything changes.
I love it when a director says, 'I don't know.'
There's a lot of jobs that you can do that you can be miserable at. Making movies should not be one of them.
I don't consider myself a comedian, but you work with some comedians, and sometimes these guys are incredible on their feet - it's just amazing - and that's not what I do. But it's always fun, and I don't really care as long as the character is interesting.
There's a lot of great directors that I want to work with, but as soon as I mention them, I never get a chance to work with them.
