People will occasionally ask me if I understand what it's like to be lonely. And the truth is I don't, because for me, solitariness is a blessing, a gift. Me, I get on fine with myself.
As a premature baby myself, my family faced many challenges in ensuring that I had a healthy start at life. There are so many obstacles for these babies and their families that each new day is a milestone.
The choice of roles as I grow older gets more and more limited, so if I pin myself to one kind of part I would get in trouble. So, these oddball ladies came along for me to do - I guess Terry Gilliam helped in this respect. I have found them more interesting, flashier and I get more mileage out of them.
At first, I was scared to show fear because you can never be sure how people will perceive you. But I dared myself to do that, to stand out. Now I'll talk about being beaten up or robbed or making a stupid decision because of a girl or whatever.
I'm drawn more to quality, and so if the quality is in television, I go in that direction. If it's in film, I go in that direction. But I don't limit myself or discriminate against any of the mediums.
I had to travel into the future and direct 'Jurassic World' as myself in 20 years - and I did.
I contribute my best in my sport and I also have a ton of respect for myself and my family.
I'm reaching 87, trying to keep fit, presenting a vigorous figure, and it's an effort, and is it worth the effort? I laugh at myself trying to keep a bold front. It's become my habit. I just carry on.
I'm obsessed with how people talk! Accents, dialects... So whenever I go someplace where an accent is extremely distinct - Minneapolis, New Orleans, Jamaica, Vancouver - I always find myself trying to pick up the subtleties of their patterns.
Generally in my films like 'Hearts of Darkness' or 'Picture This,' I try not to make myself a presence in the film.
Hopefully, sometime I get a superpower. I would like to be able to transport myself wherever I wanted.
Usually, if I'm yelling at the TV, I'm in a bar. If I'm by myself, and it's not a game, I often find myself scolding reality stars that can't hear me through the television set.
At times when I am myself sitting at a retreat, and at the end I get into my car to drive away, I watch my hand move forward to turn on the radio. When I can be mindful, I notice the fact that I actually don't want in that moment to listen to the news or hear some music.
I can still feel unsure in myself, and l'm still insecure about certain things, but my desire to be happy and my desire to be free is very strong.
The criticism is what I expect, honestly, because I'm criticizing myself every day when I come in here and watch that film. I'm trying to get better.
Due to shoots, shows, and travelling, I don't have a fixed schedule, so I train myself whenever I get time, like from 1 A.M. to 3 A.M.
It's still funny for me to think of myself as someone who writes historical fiction because it seems like a really fusty, musty term, and yet it clearly applies.
I feel like I appreciate and love myself a lot more than I used to. At one point, I would look in the mirror; I just hated what I saw... and finally, when I was 17, I built some confidence, and now I try to keep that confidence going.
Well, I think in my own work the subject matter usually deals with characters I know, aspects of myself, friends of mine - that sort of thing.
I didn't really like reading much before I did 'The Golden Compass'. But then my teacher told me to read it. And I thought, 'Oh God, I'm going to have to read a whole book by myself!' It's not that I couldn't read, it's just that I didn't really like books very much. But the book that she lent me I really enjoyed.
When I see a new artist I give myself a lot of time to reflect and decide whether it's art or not.
For me, coming into my own and being comfortable with myself really changed me as a person and made me more confident and vibrant.
I have seven uncles, and my dad played bass, they had a band together, that was the family band. And of course as the cousins got older, including myself, we joined a family band. All the cousins played. That's my heritage.
I'm a very vicious critic of myself.
For me, working out is a form of therapy. It's cathartic for me; it's a good stress reliever. I know that when I go to the gym I am taking care of myself, and I know I'll feel so much better afterwards.
Primarily I see myself as so much more than a rapper. I really believe I am the voice for a lot of people who don't have that microphone or who can't rap.
I don't get irrational about it, but I do have a deeply-rooted competitive spirit. Not necessarily towards other people, but towards any obstacle that I set for myself.
My biggest complaint with tights is that they do not accommodate skinny-ankled people like myself.
I learned early in my career to not let myself get in the way of humor but, instead, find what is great in a talented person.
'Anna Karenina.' I read it in college. I was so engrossed that I couldn't stop reading it and neglected all my other studies. I would go to the library even on nice warm weekends and just lock myself up. I think that was the first time that I felt transformed by a book.
I went into rehab to save my marriage, but I wound up saving myself.
I'm hard on myself. I'm my biggest critic.
'Rebel' is not a word I would describe for myself, but I feel like I was a total rebel being an actor. It made me feel like there was something in me, a passion, a love - and that I didn't just squelch it.
The feathers have been retired to the London Hard Rock Cafe. I don't obsess about it as much. Also, it's strange - the better physical shape I get in, the less I care about what suit I'm covering myself up in. I'm not really out to flaunt it, but I'm just more comfortable in my own skin.
I see pictures of myself and I always knew that what I was feeling didn't look like that guy in the pictures.
I really don't feel it's necessary, as an actor, to make people feel uncomfortable, just because you need to be in a certain headspace. So, I do take myself away and do my own work and hunker down.
