A lot of the fighters will say you'll know if a fighter's won or lost just by a fighter's eyes - whether they're scared of the other person.
— Joel Edgerton
My whole journey and career has been really interesting, but the one element it never really had was any sense of great momentum.
The only way for you to show what you can do is to actually do.
Everything is a learning process: any time you fall over, it's just teaching you to stand up the next time.
To me, 'Warrior' was a real turning point - probably one of the greatest experiences I've ever had as an actor on set.
I spent a lot of time outdoors as a kid.
It's funny how sometimes you learn things off the Internet before they're actually told to you.
I don't have any kids of my own.
I think it's great to be able to go and watch a short film before you watch a feature.
People love boxing, but you've gotta wait two or three years for your favorite boxer to have a fight.
I reckon I would be able compare anything to anything else if you gave me enough time.
Pulled pork jokes never get old.
I had a bit of a martial arts background from when I was a teenager: I did a bit of karate.
I always wonder why people cast me in anything.
Unfortunately, the Egyptians weren't the greatest artists in the world.
I'm a bit of a workaholic.
What an audience decides about where certain characters come from is really up to them.
What makes a really great fighter is a combination of ingredients: one is everything physical that you can do, and the other is what's mentally there for you. And I think that comes down to how big your heart is and what's driving you.
You've got to be really careful that you're not falling into the Hollywood trap, you know?
To me, I think I'm just going to keep focused and forward on what I'm doing, work-wise, rather than searching for any kind of meaning in it.
I do know one thing: it's best not to read the Internet.
In Australia, there aren't a lot of people committed to art, so these communities form that are dedicated to music, theater, cinema, but they're very small. So, they tend to move ahead on the power of collaboration, enthusiasm and creativity.
I did have someone tell me that I looked like Conan O'Brien. I was like, 'What?'
The little bit of buzz around 'Warrior' led to a lot of opportunities anyway, before the movie even came out.
I learned a great lesson early on, even before I was really an actor, from that movie 'Planes, Trains & Automobiles' that John Hughes made: that you could make a movie that's really, really, really, really funny, and sometimes you can still achieve... making the audience feel very deep emotions as well.
I operate under the theory that all publicity is good publicity, and then, if that theory doesn't work, you just say that any newspaper article ends up on the bottom of the parrot cage. But, of course, you can't line a parrot cage with Internet bloggers, can you?
I'm the great-great-grandson of a sheep stealer.
I oftentimes find with movies that the heavier the onscreen situation is, the more levity there is off screen. It's almost out of necessity.
I had a black belt in Shotokan as a kid.
People talk about the difference between working on stage and working on film. I think you could say that there are as many differences between working on low budget films and working on big budget films. You really are doing the same thing, but at the same time you're doing something vastly different as well.
Cultures render their icons in their own image. Which comes down to vanity, in some sense.
I don't appreciate, really, talking to journalists when there's a sense of wanting to kick up dust to sell more papers or get more hits on their Internet site.
Sometimes I just wonder if I'm being led by variety. If one film leads me down one path, sometimes I just want to turn around and head the opposite way for the next project. I hope that's not the case, but sometimes I suspect that.
I'm pretty skeptical about Hollywood and its fascination with the sequel and the franchise.
The nature of human beings is that we're competitive, and the chances are there's someone out there who's going to work harder than you and want it more than you.
You can't really be picky when no one is offering you anything.
The narrator of a documentary often comes in at the last minute and takes some of the glory they don't deserve.
Gavin O'Connor, I'd walk into a fire for that guy. He's a brilliant filmmaker and a passionate man.
Blue Tongue Films is a very important part of my life.
Australians and the British are very similar: If you try and stand out in any way, and you try to reach for success, someone is gonna be there to cut you down.
It's weird: I don't see myself as a tough guy.
It's easier to play aggression and malevolence onscreen, often, than to hit softer notes.
The best jujitsu practitioners are really serene and grounded.
The Australians are actually the worst of the criminals from the United Kingdom, but not worst as in toughest. They're the ones who did stupid little things and got caught for it. Bad criminals.
Part of the privilege of being an actor is the people you get to work with.
I always kept myself fairly fit.
The downside to making movies at a gallop like we did with 'Wish You Were Here' is that we're shooting four or five scenes in a day, and it's very exhilarating, but you worry at the end of the day that you missed some details because you were moving too quick, and you just gotta trust and be ready straightaway.
I was raised Catholic, and I remember in all the pamphlets and pictures we'd look at, Jesus was basically blonde with blue eyes. He kind of looked like Jared Leto.
I don't want to be too power-hungry.
Whenever you're trying to do your own take on a classic piece of literature, it's almost like you're trying to swim up your own stream or drive down your own path.
