I remember when I first met Katherine Bigelow for 'Zero Dark Thirty' - actually, we met for another movie, and that never got made, and then she called me and invited me to 'Zero Dark Thirty'.
I teach at Harvard, and focusing on understanding this problem on a national level is a big priority of mine right now - where evictions are going up and down, what cities are actually instituting policies that work, what housing insecurity is doing to our cities, neighbourhoods, our kids.
Actually, it was first a movie called Gale Force, which was a hurricane movie. That script never came together, and then the same deal was replaced with Cliffhanger.
It's hard to give up the self-esteem connected to being codependent and appearing 'right,' which is probably a survival behavior learned from growing up in a crazy family. It feels like you will actually disappear.
Although being economics editor sounds impressive, it does not mean I actually edit anything. It mainly reflects two decades of title-inflation at the BBC, which has given ever more status to senior reporters, presumably because it is cheaper to do that than to offer higher pay.
I will never actually be able to know what it's like to go through life in someone else's body.
I actually haven't been on many dates, but I like just chilling around at home and watching a movie with a girl.
Some of George W. Bush's friends say that Bush believes God called him to be president during these times of trial. But God told me that He/She/It had actually chosen Al Gore by making sure that Gore won the popular vote and, God thought, the Electoral College. 'That worked for everyone else,' God said.
True conservatives fear anything that is at odds with the status quo, even to the extent of being unable to recognise when the status quo represents injustice. And reactionary conservatives actually want to tear down the gains of the past.
I actually prefer Twitter as a medium, and I also got into Periscope for a second, but I'm still trying to figure out what to do with it. I can't figure out if the only important thing about it is the live broadcast, or if it's an interesting kind of way to log what you do.
If I'm doing my hair myself, I just wash it and let it naturally dry. I'm actually quite good at doing hair; if I wear it up I usually do it myself.
People who actually have money don't want to talk about it. They want to talk about everything else.
I am really bad at actually interviewing people.
The world is littered with constitutions that have written guarantees of rights but that don't actually deliver rights. What differentiates the ones where rights are real from where rights are fake is that it's in the initial interests of the majority to actually deliver these rights.
I actually think the chances that we'll find E.T. are pretty good.
I did this thing for HBO called 'Strip Search' with Sidney Lumet, who was one of the best directors I've ever worked with. We actually had a rehearsal period before we shot, which is unusual.
My fiction occupies, actually, the very heart of American culture: this eternal question and struggle of what it means to be an American.
Art shows and the institutions end up being the couriers for culture for the next generation and are an important component as well. It may seem ironic from one perspective, but I think if you look at my overall strategy, it's actually not out of step.
I'm a very private person, so I didn't like this idea of tweeting about me. And then I realized, 'Oh, this is actually a brilliant device in terms of interacting with the fans'. It's a lovely way to just get back, to thank the fans for watching the show. And to live tweet is kind of like getting the rewards of doing live theatre.
I'd quite like to write a book about comics, actually. But trying to write about comics as literature, which I don't think anyone's really done before. Sometimes they're more like fan books, and I'd quite like to write one about the Marvel universe over the last 50 years. It's an unprecedented achievement to create that length of continuity.
A lot of times people feel a little apprehensive about suggesting to actually meet in person. One of the reasons that can be hard is people think they have to propose something super novel.
When I was 15, I didn't think I was the prettiest at all. But then something happened when I was 20-something - I thought, actually, I really like what I look like. Just because I don't look like everybody else doesn't mean that I can't be just as beautiful.
I'm born in Alaska, grew up in Colorado, went to college in Colorado, went to Colorado State, and I actually finished my degree.
I can't say this enough - the food that you put into your bodies can actually help you get better grades. And it can also affect your performance in sports and other activities too. You see, when you give your body the best possible fuel, you have more energy, you're stronger, you think more quickly.
I have a penchant for playing God's clowns. Actually, I played Nijinsky once, and he used to call himself God's clown.
I've always been one of those folks who think competition is actually a good thing. And if we're going to preach it as a party, we need to practice it.
I really enjoy playing the piano. I took lessons throughout middle school, but I had to drop the lessons. I actually got too busy, but I hope to pick up the lessons when I'm in college if I can.
When I'm writing fiction, I'm sort of interested by the fact that somehow or other I can have the feeling of actually seeing things through someone else's eyes.
I watch 'The Bachelor'. It's one of those things where I always think if it didn't exist and it was on 'SNL,' we would think it would be a ridiculous, funny idea. But it actually exists... It's a glorious train wreck that I love to watch.
I had actually sent an audition tape for Simon Pegg's movie 'Hot Fuzz,' which came to nothing. Four years after the film released, out of nowhere, I got a call saying the producers of 'Game of Thrones' wanted me to play Hodor after they had seen that particular tape.
I think the last book I cried in was Patti Smith's 'Just Kids.' I don't shy away from crying, though. I actually really enjoy being moved like that.
I'd love to write a song that someone else sings that can actually sing really well.
The way they heat their homes in Korea is to put bricks under the floors, so the heat actually radiates from underneath the floor.
The primary reason that I'd be here or that Don Payne Jr. would be here is for you to know that members of Congress actually exist and are human.
I'm still very blunt: If you want to be a writer, get a day job. The fact that I have actually been able to make a living at it is astonishing.
The question is, will we continue to fight what may be a rearguard action to defend universal literacy as a central goal of our education system, or are we bold enough to see what's actually happening to our culture?
