I kind of got really lucky a couple of years ago: I got to do a part in 'The Descendants,' in Alexander Payne's movie. I just had a small part, but I got to do a few scenes with my best friend George Clooney.

This is about the daily ins and outs of a marriage. I don't want to give away the ending, but they are trying either to make the marriage work or make the separation work. Our job is to make that interesting.

It's funny, people were asking me how I'd feel when it all ends, on the first movie, and I don't think I've ever felt more completely bewildered, knowing that I only have a month of Twilight stuff left to do.

I've been able to carve out spaces for myself. At Sundance, I'm in the mountains - my property is private. I get on a horse and ride for three, four hours. Sometimes five. I get lost. But when I'm in, I'm in.

I wanted no other job than to work in newspapers. I was fascinated by the process of collecting information, talking to people and having the story appear in a paper that would be delivered in your letterbox.

When you really do find a new idea or you're in and it's all working, that's the gift. It's like a musician when they hit a riff, that's when you're like all right, it's mellow. You back off and just ride it.

In the beginning I had a real work problem. Every time I had job I had to convince the immigration authorities I was the only man for that job and get a special work permit until I went under contract to MGM.

Apart from being interested in a good role, I think it's necessary to make up your mind as to whether it will make a movie that will entertain an audience all over the world and not just in your own backyard.

People think because I can make them laugh on the stage, I'll be able to make them laugh in person. That isn't the case at all. I am essentially a rather quiet, dull person who just happens to be a performer.

The Americans love Aussies, but they're actually quite afraid of us at the same time because they think we're insane. Then they see our sports - league, union, and AFL - and that makes them even more worried.

The idea of being in a hugely successful movie that I don't like would be just as bad as being in a film that I love that no one sees. I wouldn't want the kind of success that felt cheap or that I didn't own.

Good acting is good acting, however you learn it. Some people who haven't studied are amazing. Some people like Leonardo DiCaprio are naturally gifted - he's learned technique by working with people early on.

I've definitely learned that if you want to have power as a woman in Shakespeare's time, and it's still relevant today, that you have to play a different game than men play, and you have to be a lot cleverer.

The thing that 'Glee' has successfully done that no other TV show has is that they're just honest - but they don't tell you what's right or wrong. They don't tell you what to agree with or what to believe in.

My experience with working with really great actors is you don't have to act. All you have to do is listen. And, that's sort of a virtue and a wonderful thing to be able to experience. It's so much less work.

I just remember Bruce Lee blowing my mind on the screen, and I thought to myself, 'That's what I want to do for a living when I'm older.' Bruce Lee was so magnetic and charismatic and held the screen so well.

I've heard New York actors say Chicago actors intimidate them because apparently we're the real nitty-gritty actors who're in a town where being onstage doesn't necessarily get you anything except your craft.

You have to pay your dues. And what's nice, after booking a lot of new people... I counted the other day. We're in September and we've already booked between 30 or 40 people who've never done the show before.

When you get into any kind of period work, or any kind of prosthetic work, or anything that alters what your 8×10 looks like, it's the joy of escaping and becoming somebody else. And it is definitely freeing.

I watch so much television. My DVR is full. I love putting my kids to bed, so I can sit on the couch with my wife and we can dissect The Affair, The Americans, House of Cards, or whatever it is. I'm so lucky.

The more time you spend with any character, whether it's from a comic book universe or a really naturalistic universe, the more time you spend, the more that character just becomes another aspect of yourself.

I had heard before that there were rumors I was gay. It's funny. My cousin gets his hair cut at this place, and one of the guys there told him that Scott Wolf was gay. He didn't realize that he was my cousin.

Everyone talks about the elusive thing with chemistry. If you have a romance on screen or anything, the first thing you have to do is become friends with the person. Its not necessarily about falling in love.

I don't read newspapers too much , just because they tend to make me feel I have a political obligation that I think is a distraction from what my political offerings are going to be if I just make my movies.

It's no accident that I'm not married and don't have kids yet. Because, despite what I've achieved in my career, I'm always wondering when somebody's gonna tap me on the shoulder and say, 'OK, the gig is up.'

Of all my father's teachings, the most enduring was the one about the true measure of a man. That true measure was how well he provided for his children, and it stuck with me as if it were etched in my brain.

As a piano player, if 10 is concert level, I'd put myself at a 5 or a 6, but in a completely different genre than classical or opera. In terms of classical and opera, playing accompaniment, I'd say I was a 3.

This idea of popular culture became something that belonged to us rather than something that we looked at from far away. We realized we could be part of it and create it, instead of just being consumers only.

We did have a script, but it didn't consist of the routines and gags. It outlined the basic story idea and just a plan for us to follow. But when it came to each scene, we and the gagmen would work out ideas.

I remember doing a little student film where we had a guy that couldn't pull focus. We ended up spending three times the amount of time shooting this thing as opposed to if the guy could've just pulled focus.

When you put a group of actors together who get along, and we have since day one, they don't become like their roles. What tends to happen is their age disappears and they all deal with each other as friends.

I think that war is diplomacy by other means, for sure, and there have been wars that have been fought for righteous reasons. There are wars that have had to be fought, and there will probably continue to be.

I think, for the first time, people are starting to say, 'That's Sterling K. Brown,' which is cool, which is uncharted territory for your boy. It's nice to be called by your name when you're not in character.

I first thought maybe I'd do a banjo presentation record, where I'd play a couple of songs and get a bunch of other players to do the rest. Then I realized I had enough of my own songs to do an album of them.

I'm honest and tell it like it is. I've been around the horn a few times and learned valuable lessons from screwing up a bit. So, if I can pass off advice or make someone smile on the way to work, I'm for it.

I'm telling you, there have been some great finishers in the world of pro wrestling or sports entertainment. Whatever you want to call it. Man, I enjoyed the Iron Claw back in the day. I believed it was real.

My life has always been chaotic. From the time I got dressed in the back of a deflated, flat-tired, fish-smelling station wagon for Rocky. It's always been do it yourself, kind of like paper-clip it together.

I look at a mentor of mine like Ryan Seacrest and the incredible amount of equity he's been able to bring to the broadcasting arena, and the branding and the world that he's been able to build around himself.

I am an official slow-roasted, honey-baked ham. Ever since I was a kid, my thing is that I love attention. All my report cards are like, 'He would be wonderful, but he just can't stop being a clown in class.'

You know the stories of a woman saying to Churchill, 'Sir, you're drunk,' and he said to her, 'And you're ugly, but in the morning I'll be sober.' I was really excited to do that scene, but I did get slapped.

I'll tell you what - it's not a choice until you're open enough to experience both male and female sexuality. Until you've tasted the food, you don't know whether you'll like it or not, as my mom always said.

I did a brief visit at Google X, and they have these little push scooters that you can go from one end of the compound to the other, and the floors are very smooth to maximize efficiency of the push scooters.

With 'Kidnapped,' there didn't seem to be a sure hand guiding it: everything had to be run-up-the-pole, so to speak, and there seemed to be a large committee, every day fighting about what the show was about.

The only time we got sugary cereal was when my mom went away for the weekend and she bought us Frosted Flakes because she wanted us to behave. Otherwise, we were eating shredded wheat, granola, or Grape Nuts.

One thing I refuse to do is force it. So I've canceled many auditions because nothing has come up, and I don't want to waste anybody's time. God forbid they outright give it to me and I don't connect with it.

All the people throughout my life who were naysayers pissed me off. But they've all given me a fervor; an angry ambition that cannot be stopped - and I look forward to finding a therapist and working on that.

My eldest daughter's been to a few sets of mine and gets spoiled when she's doing her nails, her hair. Though more often than not, you bring them to set, and they realize the filming process is pretty boring.

I really liked the snake that breaks out of the cage in the beginning of the movie. I saw it in real life, and it was really cool. Really big and fat. The owls are cool as well, but you can't really pet them.

Joanna points her camera at a section of society unused to having cameras pointed at it. But I don't know about categorising them in terms of class; I'm a bit wary of that. My dad is the son of a shipbuilder.

Joanna points her camera at a section of society unused to having cameras pointed at it. But I don't know about categorizing them in terms of class; I'm a bit wary of that. My dad is the son of a shipbuilder.

Share This Page