Some roles require less, and some roles require a great deal of commitment.
— Adrien Brody
I've been taking a lot of time to paint and be in nature. I would say I'm happier as a person. More centered. More free.
Art can go beyond certain boundaries or blindness that we would have without that.
My work as an actor is limited by the voice of the director and the writing.
I've been producing projects, and I hope that It's inevitable one day that I direct a film. I have a lot of things I want to do.
I grew up in Queens in N.Y., and in parts of my neighbourhood, there were a lot of Italian Americans and a lot of people who were either affiliated with nefarious people or had seen so many movies that they were embodying that.
The only reason to do a television series is to make it successful. And if it is successful, that's a six or seven year commitment.
All commitments require sacrifice and hardship.
Painting, music, photography, and visual art have been creative forms of expression for me for decades.
I grew up without a lot of money and my parents grew up with far less money. And that's kept me in line. Really in line.
It's great when people appreciate your work, but I don't know how seriously to take it. The amazing thing is that I found something so early that I can support myself doing, and that can even be extremely lucrative, but I love it either way.
I was a wild, mischievous kid, and I had tremendous imagination. Any experience I had, I'd try to reenact it.
It's interesting because you feel on the one hand, we understand people from what the say, and in another sense, you'd think that you'd be able to convey more through dialogue.
The more I have a sincere connection to something, the less acting is required. And the more it's about creating the space to feel that connection and to feel that shift from yourself. And start interpreting things through new eyes.
You go to a theater, you're in a darkened room, and you watch someone that you don't really know how many children they have or what their father's nickname might be; you don't have references and databases and rumors and half-truths - you're just transported by their storytelling.
I grew up around New York, graffiti culture.
I've been painting and drawing fish since I was very young. My mom found old pictures I did when I was around 6 or 7 of all these sharks and scuba diver looking back, a big ship, throwing a harpoon. There was already a message within what I saw.
I think there's a lot of catastrophe in this world and a lot of cruelty and a lot of carelessness.
Luca Changretta's not someone you want to be at odds with. It's a fantastic opportunity for me, and he's a fascinating character.
Maybe I'm a bit superstitious, but I don't like to talk about anything until I've done it.
In my work as an actor, I have been given even greater insights and have been guided towards empathy and a consciousness of those who are less fortunate.
It would be terribly boring to be earnest.
It's interesting, winning an Academy Award as a young man... life-changing, but I'm just me within that. It's been very helpful for my career, but I'm trying to stay on the path I was on before.
Obviously I'm not there to pick up anybody, but I'm not afraid to hang out in a predominantly gay establishment.
You'd be surprised how difficult it is relinquish a cell phone.
The odd thing is how, I think, the intensity and devotion to my craft and the intensity of certain performances or types of roles I've played overshadow the comedic stints that I've had. 'Darjeeling Limited' is a comedy; The 'Brothers Bloom' is a comedy.
Even if you can't afford to buy a painting, you can experience it. You can go see the Mona Lisa and be transported. You can see the discipline and suffering in a van Gogh.
I've been very lucky to work with great filmmakers. But I think my days of just freely acting regularly, that being my sole creative fulfillment, are gone.
The beauty of comedy is you can really push things. Hopefully, you're with people with a sense of humor and can relate to it.
Life is very complicated. I look to collaborate with artistic people and to go into an endeavor without judgment and to hopefully be treated with the same.
Being anonymous is a great luxury. It's a big loss to lose that. Mostly, the loss is the ability to observe others without being observed yourself. And as an actor, that is your key tool.
I was depressed for a year after 'The Pianist,' and I don't suffer from that, generally. It wasn't just a depression; it was a mourning.
I love the accessibility that my great nation affords us, but it is virtually inescapable for most people in America, and many places abroad, to rely on inexpensive yet unhealthy meals as a main source of sustenance.
What guides me is to do work that's more avant-garde - things that I think are special. You can easily become a celebrity and get caught up in all that blur. I just want to work and surprise myself.
My dad told me, 'It takes fifteen years to be an overnight success', and it took me seventeen and a half years.
I always had an actor within me.
War is chaotic and when you start having a larger scale film and you have a lot of safety protocols and choreography, I would imagine it becomes more difficult.
