I think you have to have a sense of humor about every movie that you're doing. Your character needs to be relatable in a way that, even when you're doing the most bizarre things, sometimes a bit of tongue in cheek is necessary to keep up the believability of it.
The Internet is empowering everybody. It's empowering Democrats. It's empowering dictators. It's empowering criminals. It's empowering people who are doing really wonderful and creative things.
I'm always careful to even guess, at any juncture, about things before we do them.
I think back to my time in children's television, back in the 1970s, and the amount of innovation that was going on then. Because the mass market wasn't focused on it, so you had a freedom to do amazing things, like 'Vision On,' and 'Tiswas.'
In the African American community, we are very 'hush, hush' about things in our life.
My style is schizophrenic! One minute I'll be wearing bright girly dresses, and the next I'll be swinging towards more structured masculine things.
I grew up believing that one person could make a difference. In Indiana, you saw that with basketball. The small town could beat the big town, like in the movie 'Hoosiers.' That is one of the things that attracts me to entrepreneurs.
When you get to your mid-20s, you start to feel responsibilities for the things that you do and the people around you. It's a cool age.
One of the pleasures of being an actor is quite simply taking a walk in someone else's shoes. And when I look at the roles I've played, I'm kind of amazed at all the wonderful adventures I've had and the different things I've learned.
Don't take things too seriously, and just chill.
My interviewing style and my approach to things is that, yes, it's okay to be sincere; it's okay to be yourself; it's okay to be real.
You can't plan success with a creative field. So I enjoy it while it's here, and I know it won't be forever. Maybe one day I'll have to go back to flipping burgers, but for now I'm going to enjoy the cool things.
I was thinking of going to London drama schools or to New York, because France didn't accommodate the things I wanted to do in film.
I definitely am the sort of person that likes to be constantly learning things.
I am very chaotic; I am always late and walking into things.
Westerns were always my favorite things when I was little. And it always bothered me when cowboys were too clean in movies, or when they wore their guns like they had an outfit on. It always worked better when a guy looked sweaty and smelly; I hadda believe, I hadda believe that.
My experience of life is that it's very fragmented; certain kinds of things happen, and in another place, a different kind of thing occurs. I would like my work to have some vivid indication of those differences.
The quality of one's emotional life changes over the years, doesn't it? But the basic instincts and desires, greed and hope, seem to remain constant. In the larger scope of things, there's a sense of fulfillment to living a creative life. So I guess that's what keeps me going.
My parents never forced things on my brother and me: not our faith, not our sports, not our friends. Yet they taught us about surrounding ourselves with the right people: the kind of people we want to be.
I make a point to never, ever point out my physical flaws... this is advice I give to women as often as I can. People don't notice the things we see in ourselves that we hate, so why direct them to it?
Even on the spiritual path, we have things we'll tend to cover up or be in denial about.
I don't have mom issues or dad issues. I think I have found peace about many things in my past. I have forgiven and asked to be forgiven.
People talk about balance. Balance is an awful measure of things because it implies a scale that inevitably tips. I like to look through the filter of, 'Is the life I'm leading consistent with my priorities?' For me, my family is the ultimate litmus test.
There is just no getting around that turning bad things into good things is up to you.
We had many good directors - John Carpenter, Brian De Palma - but things have become polluted by business, money and bad relationships. The success of the horror genre has led to its downfall.
I don't really cook much. I'm more of a baker. My favorite things to bake that everybody loves, and I can only keep in the house for about ten minutes, are 7-Up cake and Pineapple Upside-Down cake.
Lies can be wonderful things, and when a lie is told artfully, if it's done with a degree of craftsmanship, I can't help but admire the liar.
I write exactly what I think. If it's a raw subject, I write lots of things and then pull out all the fluff words.
Simple things don't interest me.
I think dissonance in music makes you think. It isn't, 'Oh, that's a pretty melody I can whistle.' You have to sit down and listen to tell it apart from other things.
There's really only three things you can write music about: girls, cars and surfing.
This whole idea of visibility by the public creates a pretty powerful lever. In the new transparency era, you are able to make change you would otherwise have difficulty making. It's no longer possible for somebody just to bury the problem. It's the reason why things like WikiLeaks are important.
I'm always open to trying out new things.
I definitely like a little bit of darkness, a little edge. I get a little bored when things are maybe too simple or too... expected.
My light shines when things get really tough.
That's the irony in the work: the best stories are the worst things that happen. My best times were somebody else's worst.
