I started off thinking that I just needed one shot to prove myself, but then I realised that I was only going to learn about acting by doing it.

Our morality is based on so many factors: of where we were born, who we were born to, what values were instilled in us, what values we chose, the way that our lives have shaped us. That dictates so much of what we assume is our morality, and also the culture, all of these things.

It's nice to create a character, not just within two scenes, but within the journey of a whole movie. It's fun to do that.

Anybody who dedicates himself to exploring the human condition, there's always a detached eye that's watching. In any situation, a little part of me is observing it, to see if there are any raw materials to create something else later.

There's nothing scarier than unlimited choices.

My dad always played a lot of music, so I heard him playing all the time, and then I decided that I wanted to learn to play guitar, so I got an acoustic and started taking lessons. I wanted to be able to shred like Yngwie Malmsteen.

I grew up in a very devoutly Christian home.

The songs I've written that are the strongest, I'm like: 'I don't know where that came from. It just kind of popped out.' You feel you can't take a whole lot of credit for it. I didn't purposefully will it into existence.

I wanted to shred, so I learned classical guitar.

I think it's good to be a little more fearless in saying what you feel. In not being scared of the repercussions of that.

If you can find a way that your principles are actually the strategically smartest thing to do, you've kind of figured it out.

The self-made man that some people believe is a myth? It could be, because you do it on the backs of other people.

All of my high school issues are resolved!

I grow up in the States, in Miami, but I was born in Guatemala, and my father's Cuban, and in 'Body of Lies,' I played an Iraqi.

Getting a record deal is a meaningless thing now.

'Cool' is detached and emotionally cool. My instinct is to battle anything that seems overly cool.

I like the idea of the comedy of resilience.

What's funny in 'The Mayor of MacDougal Street' is how Dave Van Ronk talks a lot about the time and how exciting it was and how electric it was.

Max Minghella is a very close friend of mine, and I talk to him regularly.

I'm really sick of anthems. Every song has to be a very big singalong thing - it feels very Eighties. There are a lot of 'whoah whoa whoahs,' this stadium thing. You're even getting that from some of the 'folk' groups. I can't stand it.

With Shakespeare, there's no subtext; you're speaking exactly what you're thinking constantly.

Cats are impossible to work with. They're just very difficult because you can't really train them. They're not really interested in whatever you want them to do. Dogs want to please you; cats only want to please themselves.

There's very few people - like Shakespeare - who, no matter what, were gonna do what they did. For the rest of us, there's a lot of events that have to happen in order for things to end up the way they are.

I really just like characters who you don't know where they stand for a long while. It's like people. You hang out with them for 10 years, and then all of a sudden they do something, and you say, 'Who are you?' That's more interesting. In life and on-screen.

I've been fortunate to be working mostly right out of school. Every year, there was a little something, and it kept the confidence going. It's about confidence and the belief.

When I moved to New York, I had to let my band know that I couldn't play anymore, and that was difficult to leave that behind.

A movie set is like a petri dish for neuroses, you know? It's just, like, egos and weird personalities and, more than anything, fear.

I was interested in the war part of 'Star Wars,' so I started reading about what it's like to go to war, what that does to you psychically, about the adrenaline and the rush.

The very first proper play I did was 'Godspell,' and I played the guitar for it, and I had a small part in a high school play. And before that, in sixth grade, I wrote a musical about Noah's ark.

You watch 'Whale Rider,' and I defy you to not get teary-eyed at the end there.

I had an audition where Josh Brolin was pelting me with his personality. I didn't get the part.

'Drive' is a genre piece, and a lot of times we don't get really sophisticated genre films.

I started playing guitar at, like, 12 or 13 and just rock bands mostly. I had a punk rock band and hard core bands and all that.

I've always liked acoustic blues. I liked Bob Dylan a lot.

A personal game-changer was when Ridley Scott cast me as King John, the King of England, for 'Robin Hood.'

I think it's the director's prerogative, not the studio's, to go back and reinvent a movie.

I've never been interested in celebrity.

I like films that take their time a little bit more and don't show you all of their cards right away, characters that are conflicted and contradicting and seem one way at first and then suddenly turn out to be something else.

I think that's why often people in creative fields can feel so alone is because there's a constant third eye, that constant watcher.

Being someone with Latin roots, so many doors are constantly closed for you because people put you in a category, and the thing I've always wanted to avoid is categorisation.

When I'm creating a character, I don't see it so much as playing someone else as just playing a specific part of myself under certain circumstances.

For me, with a character, you start with the shoes.

I feel like being an artist and being an activist are separate things; I know some people who feel very differently.

Every frame of a Coen brothers movie is filled with history and meaning, and the deeper you go, the deeper you get. That's why their movies stand up particularly well to repeated viewing and investigation.

I was in bands, but they were punk bands, and you plug in the guitars, you turn them up really loud, you've got four or five other people on stage with you, you've got some protection from when they throw lighters. You can always hide behind the lead singer or the bass player.

I had a great conversation with Tom Waits, of all people.

I think that when you decide to dedicate yourself to creative endeavors and surround yourself with people who are creative, you very quickly learn how hard it is to survive doing those kinds of things, not to mention make a living at them.

I wouldn't mind seeing The Smiths reform. That would be cool.

How do you play 'righteous'? Do you just kind of stand up straighter? What does that mean as an actor? You don't really play a quality.

Talent is very hot.