A teenager usually wants to try to get people to notice him in some way, to feel like someone gives a damn. Me, all that attention, I just wanted to fade into the background. Be...

I think mostly it’s the adventure that I will have in making the movie. That’s what I look for.

It’s the actors who are prepared to make fools of themselves who are usually the ones who come to mean something to the audience.

And I not only inherited an aversion to the nine-to-five routine, but the sense from my parents that being bored and boring is the worst thing that you can be.

A lot of actors say that theater’s the thing for them. And that’s great, and I’m not one to speak with any authority about it because of not having done it properly. For me, movies...

I met my grandfather just before he died, and it was the first time that I had seen Dad with a relative of his. It was interesting to see my own father as a son...

I find what I do for a living really funny. I mean, acting is kind of a hilarious thing for a grown man to call a job.

Planning a career, I always find that such a tricky thing, because I don’t have much of a plan, really.

One of the places where we lived when I was growing up had this big wood out the back. And starting when I was about 8, I used to enjoy just walking alone through the...

But I learned that there’s a certain character that can be built from embarrassing yourself endlessly. If you can sit happy with embarrassment, there’s not much else that can really get to ya.

I’m an actor I’m not a politician. I always kick myself when I talk too much about family, or personal things.

The interesting thing about a movie is the movie.

‘Batman’ took 10 months to film, and by the time I stopped working on it, it took a long time before my English accent came out again. I was actually having to try for it.

All I’ve ever ended up with in terms of achievements is the movie, some really stupid anecdotes, a bunch of crosswords that I didn’t finish and maybe some old bicycle that I found lying around...

I’m not an actor that tends to care. I don’t ask ‘Is this a close up? Is this a master? Is this a wide? What are you doing? If I look up and notice the...

I never want to feel that I’m playing it safe.

But I enjoyed getting sick, I didn’t mind it at all. So in that short amount of time, I did actually go from 121 right back up to 180, which is way too fast obviously....

‘The Machinist’ changed me. I learned that I really enjoy, literally, not saying a damned word for days at a time, except for what was in the scene. Whole days of… nothing. Just… standing still....

My hope is that people will be repulsed by the character’s complete lack of ethics and obsession with consumerism – that’s what I was saying about the difference between the character’s message and the film’s...

The only thing I would unequivocally say is that I have never had any interest in romantic comedy I just couldn’t do it. I think I’d be terrible.

The point of having a director is that they make the final decision; it’s their point of view, they set the rhythm and they make the final decisions.

Essentially, I’m untrained, so I just go with my imagination and try to put myself as solidly as I can into the shoes of whatever person I’m going to be playing.

I don’t get it when you get so much openness about the way movies are made, and the special effects and the behind-the-scenes stuff and all of that. I can’t help but feel like this...

Obviously there are times with acting when exactly what is required is just going through the motions, and when doing nothing is the best thing. But at other times, you have to make that leap...

Art is something to be proud of. Art is no compromise.

I never want to turn something down because I’m afraid to do it, because of some idea of image or whatever. That was never anything I set out to do. In fact, the opposite, I...

I think trying too hard to be sexy is the worst thing in the world a woman can do.

A movie star is someone people look at and go, ‘I want to be like that person’. There’s the responsibility of desire. It’s not something I’m interested in trying. I would fail miserably at it,...

Well, it’s embarrassing to be a star.

I will never say never, but I will say never to doing the more typical romantic comedies. You know, unless I’m getting audited and I’m on the street and I desperately need some dough and...

I like the idea of movies having a magic element. How many times have you seen an actor in a movie who you know only as the character? It’s wonderful, isn’t it?

The biggest rebellion I could’ve ever had with my father would be to work in a bank. He would have disowned me. As long as I was doing something where I didn’t have to wear...

I find something fascinating about the quiet man in the background who has no desire to be the center of attention.

In everyday life, my wife is the most wonderful. We’re in love with each other beyond belief.

It’s not who I am underneath but what I do that defines me.

In honesty, there are probably a lot of stories that can be told with Batman. I like the idea of him growing older and he can’t quite do it as much anymore.

What the hell kind of man decides to dress up as a bat and run around the city? There’s got to be something a little bit loose in there.

There was a great complexity to my father. He was a devoted family man. But, in the same breath, he simply was not suited to an anchored life. He should have been somebody who had...

I went backwards and forwards over it until I was 22. And then in the past few years I began to say to myself, OK, look, I’m not messing around. This is something I want...

There have been many times when you spend a number of months and the finished product is not what you wanted to see. And ‘Batman Begins’ was what I wanted to see.

My dad was the biggest influence on my life because he was never boring.

I don’t think I’m like any of the characters I’ve played – they’re all really far from who I am.

If everyone really knew what a jerk I am in real life, I wouldn’t be so adored in the slightest.

Look, I’ve got incredible pride for my family. I’ve absolutely fallen into that cliche of a dad who could just happily talk about my daughter endlessly.

I always leave that for other people to decide, because some of the things I consider to be disasters are some people’s favorite movies. And that’s what I like so much, is that you never...

In terms of the romantic kind of lead, I just never enjoy those movies very much. Maybe they’ll come to interest me more as I get older. I doubt it, but maybe. Romantic comedies tend...

I’d love to remain a secret and still work, but I also want people to see the movies I’m in and get a higher profile because of that. I like to think that as long...

You’re creating a different world and the actor’s job is to be able to convince the audience to enter into that world, whether it be actually something that you recognize from your own life or...

Working out is incredibly boring. I swear it’s true that the bigger your muscles get, the fewer brain cells you have.

Certainly I have no attraction to misery. I don’t intentionally go for dark.