Whether you think a film will affect society or it's plain entertainment, it's all excellent, it's all noble.
— Joaquin Phoenix
You're always thinking, What's the next move - the career, the money.
When I look back I can't believe how my parents managed, but the cliche is true. We didn't have money, but we were rich in so many other ways.
You see so many earnest characters in movies all the time, everyone has a purpose.
In every film, whether it's a fictional character or not, you create an idea of the character and for me I always do a bad impersonation to start with.
I always have the fear that, if I don't commit 100 percent to my work, then it's gonna suffer.
I wouldn't feel satisfied being on set every day doing a romantic comedy - I'd be bored to death.
I don't bring my life into a character at all.
It's an amazing feeling to go into a studio and really be alone.
There are kids who get on a BMX bike when they're eight years old and they go, 'Whoa, this is incredible,' and grow up to do extreme sports. It's the same for me with acting.
There was a time when I read a script and I just got excited about the possibilities.
When I decide to do something, I stick with it, total commitment.
I've worked with a lot of people on music and often times those things don't work out.
I never prepare. I think that's completely overrated. It's a very simple job. All you have to do is hit this bright mark, stand in the right spot and say the line. So I don't really believe in preparation.
I once told a journalist that girls call me 'Kitten,' but I couldn't have been more sarcastic, and no matter how many times I've said that it was a joke, it still doesn't go away.
I don't really make movies because I want to see my face on a billboard or because I want to get good reviews or have a big box office. That doesn't really matter to me at all.
I'm vomiting days before I start shooting a new movie.
You can take that 'I'm an artiste' stuff to the wrong extreme, too.
My parents were just searching for an alternative way of raising their children.
I guess I had what you could call an unconventional upbringing.
Might I be ridiculous? Might my career in music be laughable? Yeah, that's possible, but that's certainly not my intention.
Once I became a total buffoon, it was so liberating.
For me, I guess I'm the acting equivalent of somebody that jumps off buildings and parachutes.
Every movie soaks into you for a certain amount of time.
I know if I'm lost in the moment or not.
I don't know a single person in life that doesn't have conflict.
I love having a master. I have no problem serving my director. That's my job. I want to make them happy.
I guess my experience with some stuff is kind of abstract.
I'm not technical.
I loved hip-hop. The first stuff I heard was Public Enemy, and I couldn't believe it. It was amazing, and I've always loved hip-hop.
I don't think one should be comfortable standing on a stage with people applauding and laughing at every stupid thing you say.
Sometimes a character is really based on research that you do. Other times it's just based on your imagination or perhaps your conversation with the director. Or sometimes all of the above. It depends on the movie and character.
In most films - especially in regards to the protagonist - really from the get-go they set up some scenario that endears that character to the audience. Or imbues him with some nobility or heroism or something.
I don't walk around like I'm a movie star because I don't think of myself as a movie star. People usually don't even notice me.
The only reason why I would like to be accepted? Because if your movies don't do well, after a while you don't get to make any more movies.
I feel like everything you learn as an actor growing up is wrong. You're supposed to hit your mark, find your light and know your lines. Those are all things that just make things wooden, dull and boring.
I wish I had fair justification for not being as informed as I should be, but I don't.
I would try and sing along with bands that I like but it sounded so atrocious that I couldn't.
Going out on a stage publicly and not knowing how people are going to react to you - once I experienced that, it made me feel much more comfortable about going into a scene.
For me, I'd rather have an intense experience than not.
With public figures involved in a relationship it seems that there is a machine behind their love so oftentimes.
My music is going to be true. I'm not out to sell records. I'm experiencing something, and it's what I feel.
I'd see child actors and I'd get so jealous, because they're just completely wide open.
I have this horrible sense of humor where I think discomfort is funny - partly because I experience discomfort a lot, and it's a way of laughing at it and getting a release.
Well, I haven't signed anything giving people the right to do anything they want with my image, you know what I mean. I have the ultimate say.
I just I don't feel challenged by acting anymore. I don't enjoy the process anymore.
Well, I think that you know, I threatened myself with quitting after every movie. But I think everybody does that, right?
I think the day that I become comfortable doing interviews and going on talk shows is the day that I don't know what it is to be a human being anymore.
I mean, I don't like sitting at a table with seven or eight people asking me questions and kind of listening to what I'm doing - scrutinizing my thoughts and things like that. I just don't like it. I can't understand how anyone would.
The reason I keep making movies is I hate the last thing I did. I'm trying to rectify my wrongs.
