I've managed to do movies and still keep a lifestyle where I can go to ballgames, go to a grocery store like everybody else.

With physical prep work, you know if you go to the gym, you will get size. There's no chance it won't happen. The emotional prep work is a variable. You could step onto the set one day and have a disconnect with your thoughts and feelings and have a rough day acting because you can't quite tap into what you need.

I like pursuing new endeavors. That's part of the reason I wanted to direct. I like to create things. I'm a Gemini. I'm always looking for something new.

I love acting. It's my playground, it let's me explore. But my happiness in this world - my level of peace - is never going to be dictated by acting.

I think diamonds represent luxury, indulgence, and class. So any time you can incorporate a gift that is synonymous with all those attributes, you know the other person will love it. I would challenge someone to find something that better represents Valentine's Day more than diamonds!

Anyone who's had a tattoo knows once you get your first one, as you're walking out the door, you're planning the next.

I like wet hair and sweatpants. I like sneakers and ponytails.

I really try to spend as little time as possible on grooming. I think if you have a good moisturizer and a solid razor to clean up the beard, you're golden.

The past is the past, but if you're overanalyzing or trying to repeat it, you're gonna get stuck. I just had a wonderful youth, and I loved everything about it, so I really try and hang on to it.

I hate myself in interviews. All of a sudden, you stop and you're like, 'Chris, how dare you?' I don't live in Darfur. I have both legs. But you can't walk around all the time being like, 'I'm so grateful I'm not in Darfur.'

What do I geek out about? What am I? Hmmm. I love movies. I watch movies. I like big, sweeping epics, like Ed Zwick stuff: 'The Last Samurai,' 'Legends of the Fall,' 'Blood Diamond,' 'Glory.'

With 'Captain America,' you might have three lines of dialogue the whole day. And there are just a million angles and a million set-ups, and it's tedious.

Everybody goes and sees 'Fantastic Four,' but nobody sees 'Sunshine.' I'd have a different career if people saw that.

Everything that Marvel does, it's a chess move. Nothing is by accident.

I'll say initially acting was my first love, and that's what I pursued. But then, so far as even my first day on a film set, and just watching how things were set up, I just said, 'I think I want to be in charge.' I am very much type-A. I am a bit of a control freak.

At the end of the day, you're handing your performance over. If a director says after a take, 'You know what, try it just really angry. Just get furious'... you're like, 'Well, I don't know if I want to give you that because I don't know if I trust what you're going to do with it.'

I really like people who have the gift of the gab. I like characters that are very eloquent, articulate and confident in what they're saying. Especially coming off 'Captain America,' who's very internal and intimate, I'd love to play someone who wears their emotions on their sleeves, potentially to a fault.

The funny thing about directing is that you have your own opinions, but it's a collaboration. Directing is a group effort. Even though you might think something works, the smartest thing you can do as a director is try and weigh the opinions of the people around you.

I like the feeling of making things. It's very very rewarding. And filmmaking is that type of experience, where you're forced to collaborate with so many people. You're involved in the beginning to end, you're involved with so many elements, and when it's done, you're like, 'I made this movie.'

If women feel they are able to go from partner to partner without feeling emotionally invested and ultimately hurt, they should go for it.

I decided to make 'Captain America' because I realized I wasn't doing the film because it terrified me. You can't make decisions based on fear.

I like human stories. I like stories about situations we can relate to. I like movies like 'Ordinary People' or 'Terms of Endearment.' Mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, boyfriends, girlfriends. The stories to me that are worth telling are almost simple ones, but very relatable.

Look at pictures of me growing up. It wasn't always the way it is now. It was a bumpy road for me.

Fame is a funny thing. I like doing normal things. I like going to fairs. I like going to ball games. I like going to Disney World or a big field on the Fourth of July and having picnics with friends. The problem is you're either worried you're going to be recognized, or you're thankful you're not. It's always there.

Every guy I know has some sort of freak injury in their body.

I love acting. It's my playground; it lets me explore. But my happiness in this world, my level of peace, is never going to be dictated by acting. My goal in life is to detach from the egoic mind.

What if I couldn't handle people's opinions of me? I know that shouldn't dictate a person's degree of peace or happiness in life, but the problem is, I chose a business saturated in judgment.

When you do one movie at a time, if one goes crazy and becomes successful, your life changes. But you can step back and catch your breath.

I am sure every movie I've made, even as an actor, had multiple test screenings. And I am sure there have been horrible things written about me. But I never have to see them!

I have a pretty fast metabolism, so I don't really have to worry about getting pudgy. What I try to do when I'm working out is taking in a lot of heavy protein - clean chicken, clean meats.

I'm much more starstruck by athletes than I am by actors, and I think I saw Kobe Bryant at a basketball party, and I just kind of froze. He's monstrous.

I'm not trying to steal the show. I tend to shy away from - I don't want to say the spotlight - how about responsibility? It's just very daunting. These movies are very intimidating. 'Captain America.' This is the stuff I struggle with.

If you're strutting around Beverly Hills and hitting up these big industry parties every night when you're not making movies, then it's going to eventually consume you. But for me, I live most of my life in Boston. I do things no different from the way my buddies back home do them, except when I go to work, I go to a film set.

I weep at everything.

As an actor, acting is like playing a sport. You do this thing that's intangible, and while it's happening, it's great. But then when it's done, there's really no tangible product. Someone else is capturing it and turning it into something tangible.

I think that, in the beginning, you think, 'I want to be the biggest movie star in the world.' And then, with the more movies you make, you are like, 'I don't know if I want to be that anymore. I think what I am looking for is something different.' I like acting, but a lot of times, stardom comes with a lot of strings attached.

The trick is, when you try a good pair of jeans on, you may not think they're that great, but you wear them two months, and they become your favorite jeans. They're tricky. You gotta let them live.

I didn't realize - you think you are doing a movie but then you realize it's a Columbia Pictures movie so it's probably going to have some publicity. Then you see a billboard and it's like, 'God! I'm on a billboard!' It doesn't hit all at once, it kind of unravels itself and it's still unraveling.

I wish you could see some of the girls I have genuinely had crushes on in my life. They're not the girls you would assume.

There was one film that I really wanted. This was a long time ago; it was a film called 'Fracture.' Ryan Gosling ended up doing it with Anthony Hopkins. It wasn't a giant box-office success, but I really enjoyed the script, and I enjoyed the character. I got pretty close and was kind of disappointed it didn't go my way.

My worst hairstyle was a bowl cut parted down the middle. It was the '90s. It was what you did. I had that from 4th grade until freshman year in high school. I'm glad the pictures exist. I had great hair back then.

If making movies was easier, there'd be a lot more good movies. So you kind of learn that if it's just a good script, or if it's just a good producer, that's not always enough. You need an entire team of creative people coming together.

I always wanted to see why Captain America was on this team of Avengers. He's got to have a reason - he can't just be really fast and punch really hard.

Growing up, I really liked 'Star Wars.' Han Solo would've been really cool to meet. But my stuff was real low-brow. I was watching 'Bugs Bunny.'

You know, the reward for 'Captain America' is amazing. It's always fun to see a giant spectacle film and see the fun stuff - the special effects.

I really love the sound of my dog snoring.

I always say I should do more yoga. Or do yoga - more would mean I do some. I've done none. But I always want to do yoga because I'm getting old. Nerves are getting pinched every other day, and I really just gotta get more limber.

I'm not that great with press sometimes.

If your goal is to be the biggest movie star in the world, a 10-movie contract is gold. It was never my goal. Up until now, I made movies - and I have a nice house, a nice car. I'm fortunate, happy and grateful. Life is good.

There's, you know, there's an ideology behind Ultron that makes him more unique that just a bad guy. He doesn't wanna just kill the Avengers. He doesn't wanna just destroy the world. He has these monologues and these beautiful speeches that kind of embody a certain mentality about what's wrong with humanity.