The point of acting is to hide yourself and get lost in character. To play the same character in eighteen movies would be defeating the purpose I believe so I try to keep a little bit of diversity.

I try to carve my own way so the actors who come after me will say, "I want to do it like Columbus did it."

With films, you completely immerse yourself in a character, get into who they are, live it and then release it.

I want to play Martin Luther King. I want to tell the real story, his demons, his struggles as a man, not just as a hero but fallible, I want to show that side.

I'm a silly guy, I love wit and cynicism and sarcasm.

I don't want to do action that doesn't mean anything. Everything I do I want to have character development and three-dimensional characters, fallible humans, and this is definitely one of them.

I was struggling with drugs, I had a lot on my plate, and you know, I was using unhealthy ways to kind of self-medicate and deal with a lot of heavy duty stuff in my life.

I can say with full sincerity that I am happy. I'm happy because I'm doing what I love and I'm not selling out. And I can sleep at night because I'm at peace with it.

It’s life. You don’t figure it out. You just climb up on the beast and ride.

A pure love is a selfless love, but can desire ever be selfless?

There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval. The dark background which death supplies brings out the tender colors of life in all their purity.

When you are growing up there are two institutional places that affect you most powerfully: the church, which belongs to God, and the public library, which belongs to you.

As a filmmaker, deep blacks are essential, and in my experience, no technology captures those attributes as well as Plasma.

The philosophy of the school was quite simple - the bright boys specialised in Latin, the not so bright in science and the rest managed with geography or the like.

I am not comfortable with abstract writing, stories that look like essays: you have to see, I need to see.

When the pressure comes, preferences give way while convictions hold firm.

When boiled down to its essence, unforgiveness is hatred.

It's fun to go to the movies and be scared.