I allowed myself to think if I could be doing anything in the world, what would I be doing? And what came to mind is I'd be traveling a little bit, I'd be going to classes and I'd be going back to school.
Every article I've read about myself always winds up concluding that I am not, in fact, completely stupid.
I'm making little changes in my life to take care of myself, like putting in a mile or two on my treadmill every day.
It's fun to be sarcastic, but now I'm able to express myself in a way that's much more sincere.
So I had to just kind of go back to the hotel, take a shower, sit quiet, dig down deep, warm up, and allow myself to move into some kind of zone. And then I remembered that a lot of my favorite musical moments are not about perfection.
I've never been a heavy practitioner of the method or, at least, with any specific intent; I'm kind of an impulse-based person. Like, I'm sort of waiting for something to happen that I'm not expecting, and I kind of want to jump on that train of emotion, whatever it is, both from myself or from the other actor.
I love being in the archives, traveling, sitting in dusty places and looking at books with brittle pages. I love reading biographies and researching, to make myself informed about whatever political or historical time I'm writing about. From there, a lot of the emotional truths about my characters emerge.
I'm looking out for myself, but I'm looking out for my dad, too.
I've played the wicked mothers; I've played the serial-killer-type mothers now. They have to have an edge on them. They can't just be everyday moms, because I never thought of myself as an everyday person in cinema - I'm an everyday person in real life, like anyone. But not in what I project out there. I want something more exciting.
No, I do a bunch of things to entertain myself. I paint, I make music, I take photographs.
I'm a shepherd, not a sheep, and I've always prided myself on being a leader and not a follower.
I have a private press. I'm a book artist. I publish books of other authors and artists. I do the illustrating. I set the type. I print it myself on my press. I do everything but bind it.
I'm asked all the time in interviews about who I am, and I know a few people my age who have a strong sense of self, but I couldn't say I know myself and sum it up and give it to you in a little package. I don't know myself at all yet.
I did not fully understand the dread term 'terminal illness' until I saw Heathrow for myself.
I really thought to myself, 'If I'm going to do anything in this world, I am going to be the best I can be.' I have a tennis coach that has taken me as far as my body can go. I hired a private skiing coach during my birthday week. I have a private yoga instructor. I just don't understand why you wouldn't give yourself every advantage.
I choose to express myself.
I put so much pressure on myself to raise the bar with each and every project. I treat it like every film is my last, and I make sure I pour everything I have into every film I make because if I'm not trying to improve, someone else will.
Most of the time, when I'm writing, I'm writing for myself. I'm thinking, 'What will my character say at this time? What will come out of her mouth?' I create individuals so real to me, I sometimes start talking to them. Then I let them loose on the page.
I would be a poorer person if the only things I knew were what I had found out for myself.
I never sort of thought of myself as a comedy writer, by nature.
If I had written something, and I had written myself into a corner, I didn't abandon it. Because I remembered: There's always more.
I am obliged to believe certain opinions myself. No man's belief will save me except my own.
I never said I'm not a feminist! I wrote one column where I was being sarcastic, and I called myself a 'wombist'. Now which sane person would say that 'wombist' is a better term than feminist? I was being sarcastic, and perhaps it was my fault in not getting the point across as clearly as I would have liked to. I don't think there's any doubt.
I realise that in this undertaking I place myself in a certain opposition to views widely held concerning the mathematical infinite and to opinions frequently defended on the nature of numbers.
For years, I hated myself. I covered the mirrors in my house. I literally couldn't have a mirror in my room.
I think of myself as a writer with a sense of humour rather than a comedy writer. Happy to tell a story with lots of jokes in it - I wouldn't know how to do jokes without the story.
I took the process of doing as much myself as I could like a duck to water. I set up my own label and publishing, etc, and it was a fun learning curve two decades ago.
What I say now is that the way the world underestimates me will be my greatest weapon. People pat me on the head, and I go to myself, oh, and aren't they going to be surprised.
I went out as a free agent in Boston and had a great year and I priced myself out of there market, at the time.
When I was growing up, I didn't like cheese. I had to wean myself onto cheese.
That's what made me a man, having to fend for myself and being in a situation where there is no dad, no grandma, and no mom to help you. It changed the person that I am today.
I like to think of myself as a natural gardener.
I went through a lot in middle school, and you always try so many different looks and try to be so many different people. I finally realized I'm awkward, I'm lanky, and I'm going to embrace it - make fun of myself and just laugh.
You know, it sounds corny, but I believe in myself. And I work hard.
I will never work merely to make a reputation for myself, to be popular for appearances rather than for what I am. My task is to lead my country through service.
My attitude on skis is different now. I have learned to put less pressure on myself and on the edges of my skis when I'm racing, to be keep myself more under control.
