In L.A., I was meeting people who were all actors. My mind started to open up to what acting was. I didn't realize that Brad Pitt was a real person. I didn't think he was a robot or a machine, but I thought you were just born into acting - that it's a family tree, kind of like NASCAR. No one can just say, 'Hey, I'm going to be a NASCAR driver.'
I wouldn't say my mother was my best friend, because that sounds odd, but we have a really tight bond and she is my friend on Facebook. Although she only goes on it to check up on me and sometimes we argue about it.
I always say the strength of democracy lies in criticism. If there is no criticism, that means there is no democracy. And if you want to grow, you must invite criticism. And I want to grow; I want to invite criticism.
When it's all said and done, I want to look back on my career and say I did numerous things.
Why would anyone want to read what I have to say?
Often I feel I say too much.
I'm by no means a pianist. I think that's safe to say, but the piano, for me, I would say it's the enabler. It gave me what I needed and gives me what I need in order to write a song. And I think playing or improvising on the piano is where I feel most liberated and sort of less conscious of all my insecurities or inadequacies.
The art of transformation is a very important thing to me, and I always believe I can say something more truthful through characters that are further away from me.
I'm really looking forward to a time when generations after us look back and say how ridiculous it was that humans were driving cars.
I remember being told very early on, 'Just say what they want to hear in the audition, and we'll figure it out later on.' So there have been a few tricky moments. I once said I could ride, when the truth is I'm terrified of horses, but I got the job!
I love driving. I still drive a 1993 Toyota Camry. I do want to get an electric car, but it's less of a carbon footprint if you keep your old, fuel-efficient car on the road than if you say 'build me a whole new car.'
We have to redefine what we mean when we say, 'Who are your people?' 'Where are you from?'
It may be that that we can sing what we often cannot say, whether it be from shyness, fear, lack of the right words or the passion or dramatic gift to express them. More souls have rallied to more causes by the strains of music than by straining rhetoric.
Yes sir, I am a tortured man for all seasons, as they say, and I have powerful friends in high places. Birds sing where I walk, and children smile when they see me coming.
I would say I was still a Marxist - which is not to be confused with being a Communist. Despite its flaws, Marxism still seems to explain the material world better than anything else.
I think controversy is not always a bad thing. Jesus was controversial. It's through controversy that people often wake up and smell the coffee and say, 'What's going on here? Do we need to rethink something here?'
I ain't got nothing to say. I just wanna play football.
Some people say I chastise the Republican Party too much.
Sometimes random things that you wouldn't think mean anything mean so much to them. With kids, you can say, 'Let's go pick some flowers' or 'There's a snail. Let's investigate that.'
Not to say people shouldn't get rich from art. I adore the alchemy wherein artists who cast a complex spell make rich people give them their money. (Just writing it makes me cackle.) But too many artists have been making money without magic.
The people, when they say 'Death to America!' - do you know what they are really saying? What they mean to say relates to the aggressive policies of the U.S. and intervention and meddling by the U.S.
People like Art Blakey and Buddy Rich, you look at them playing music, and it's just like looking at a heavy metal drummer. I mean, they're playing with the same amount of ferocity. It's not to say all jazz is like that.
There is a huge reservoir of support for abortion rights from ordinary women. I hear all the time from women who had abortions and say it made possible the good life they went on to have. Social shaming silences too many.
I think the whole thing, boy band, it's a little bit of a dirty word. They say it's not a good thing to be in a boy band. We want to change that. We want to make the boy band cool. It's not just about dancing and dressing the same.
I'll tell you one big misconception. Cops never say 'Freeze!' It might be misinterpreted. They might think you were, like, ordering fries. Or that you had fleas.
Whenever a Kurd wants to measure the depth of some foreign leader's commitment to Kurdish autonomy, he listens for one particular word. That word is 'federal.' Anyone who will say he favors Kurdish federalism can be counted a friend of the Kurds.
For me, that's one of the best validations as an artist. To have a stranger come up to you and say that something you've created and put out there in the world has had some sort of impact on other people's lives.
I'd say that animal rights and environmental issues have always been at the forefront of my mind.
People bug you all the time. Sometimes, it's a good bug, when they say you're doing a good job. When it's not a good bug, it's even worse.
Remember what I always say: people first, then money, then things.
It's crazy how loyal country fans are. I can't say enough how much that means to me.
I'd say mostly I paint hot chicks.
I have to say, working with Dan Stevens in 'The Guest' and seeing his transformation was incredible. Also Kate Winslet. Off set, she's loud and sweary, but when she walks on set, she has this calmness and is so centred.
Well, first of all, no professor should be able to say, I refuse to defend my position. I refuse to debate my position.
I always say, 'People first, then money, then things.'
It's a bit startling to achieve global recognition before the age of 30 on account of your sister, your brother-in-law and your bottom. One day I might be able to make sense of this. In the meantime I think it's fair to say that it has its upside and its downside.
