My interest as an artist is to illuminate the lives of black folks. I definitely am focused on films that illustrate all that we are and all our nuance and all our complicated beauty and mess, and when you're telling those stories, you gotta have black actors.
All my films are all my children.
Sometimes in films it's nice to have violins on either side, rather than on one side, so you've got more of a stereo picture with the violins. Sometimes it's good to have the basses in the middle.
Most of the cricketers are doing side businesses apart from playing the sport, so why should I be left behind. I feel there is a lot of money in making films, and since Punjabi cinema is doing good, this is a lucrative option for me.
Growing up I always loved films that transport you to another world and has things you never see in every day life.
'Purampokku' was one of those rare films made just like it was narrated.
At the end, it's your movie and your performance that stands out. So if I am a good actor, and if am being part of good entertaining engaging films, audiences will like me.
I knew that all South Indian language films were first made in Chennai and that Tamil Nadu is one of the biggest film-producing centres in the country. I wanted to be part of films here.
You don't ever know with films. You just hope for the best, but sometimes it's a bit of a crapshoot.
Every actor has to make terrible films from time to time, but the trick is never to be terrible in them.
I did love horror films from the '70s and '80s. That was my sweet spot.
Honestly speaking, I don't like my films. When I watch them, I see a lot of scope for improvement, so if I were to see any of my films, like 'Dhoom,' I might say... 'It would have been better if...' or 'had it been...' and this is all about evolving.
People go to extraordinary lengths to get films made.
Muzaffarnagar is 40 kilometers from my village. So I used to see films if I was able to save money and on special occasions like Eid, Diwali.
I always thought those World War II films with German people speaking English with German accents was weird.
People keep saying Balachander discovered me. I differ. He invented me. When a stalwart like him suggests that I act in films, who am I to refuse?
The more I make films, the more I feel less inclined to talk about them and just let people watch them. I feel that the pictures are telling the story, and I can't really add anything except just talking about the technicalities of what happened on the day.
When I was growing up you would see big American films that really mythologised their landscape, that really showed the vastness and the drama of their country.
I would love to work in a Bollywood film as there is so much drama and colour in the films there.
The ethos of most films is that you make a film, you exploit the community, you exploit the environment, and it's OK because you made a great film, you know?
I figured I would be teaching my whole life and making experimental films on the side.
'Lincoln' is a powerful film. It's one of those epic films that talk about this very specific issue in history of the United States.
Critics can say what they like about the films, but very often, there's a certain expectation of documentaries that they're supposed to be like PowerPoint presentations. I see documentaries as movies. So when I see some critics writing that we could have done without the recreations altogether - well, perhaps.
When I first got out to Hollywood, they were pushing me for sitcoms, and I didn't really have an interest in them. I wanted to do films and slowly worked that way. And then it became, I guess, this curse of the leading man.
I've always been a huge fan of 'The Shining,' and 'Rosemary's Baby' is one of my favorite films of all time.
Secondarily, I think films that are driven by music also terrify studios.
To make films, it always begins with two words: what and how. First of all, you have to find a story, or what are you going to tell? And you have to find a way to tell it visually.
I was never very interested in my own experience, I think, in fact, if my films have a common link, maybe it's being a foreigner - it's common for people who are born abroad - they don't know so well where they belong.
I don't see making films to entertain and making films to inform as separate things.
I didn't know anybody who was a filmmaker - there was no film industry where I grew up. I never knew what a director really did until I was in high school and I started reading up about it. I've always loved films, and I always felt like a storyteller.
I've done a lot of sorts of films that are under the radar.
I went from a sitcom to a hospital drama, feature films. I've kind of been living the actor's dream. I'm not associated with one role or one medium. You're lucky if you're associated with one hit show.
I don't know what to do with myself between films. I end up doing unhealthy things like shopping or drinking. I'm pretty schizophrenic about it.
The concept of even having fans is still kind of weird to me. I really just feel like a filmmaker that is only just finding my foot in and is beginning to participate in Hollywood and making films. So the idea of any kind of fandom or people that are waiting for something that I may release is very distant in my mind.
I prefer the European films that are like, 'No, it's over! They both die. The End.'
If they made films in Palm Beach, actors and actresses would be much better dressed.
