Joaquin Phoenix

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.

Whether you think a film will affect society or it's plain entertainment, it's all excellent, it's all noble.

With public figures involved in a relationship it seems that there is a machine behind their love so oftentimes.

I didn't know much about him, and I wasn't a big country music fan. I listened to the Beatles and David Bowie, so I didn't know a lot about him.

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.

You see so many earnest characters in movies all the time, everyone has a purpose.

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.

The reason I keep making movies is I hate the last thing I did. I'm trying to rectify my wrongs.

I've always loved music, but I never really played anything. After 'Walk the Line' and learning to play guitar, and having that sense of performing, I think that certainly opened the door for me, for music.

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.

I feel an obligation to set the record straight. Actors that say they're affected by something, that it changes their life, that they take it home with them, they're just trying to get nominated for an Oscar!

I always have the fear that, if I don't commit 100 percent to my work, then it's gonna suffer.

I had a really wonderful upbringing. We were a tight family. It was wonderful to grow up with so many siblings. We were all just a year or two apart, and we were always so supportive of each other. I learned everything from my older brother and sister and taught it to my younger sisters.

For me, I'd rather have an intense experience than not.

I guess my experience with some stuff is kind of abstract.

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.

I wouldn't feel satisfied being on set every day doing a romantic comedy - I'd be bored to death.

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 still think that movies are amazing I respect actors and directors.

It's an amazing feeling to go into a studio and really be alone.