I could care less about being an action actor like Stallone or Schwarzenegger.

That was a dream. As an actor, you find yourself studying the performances of actors you've admired in the past, and so often those performances were in Sidney Lumet movies. When I directed my first short film, 'Multi-Facial,' I bought a book by Sidney Lumet called 'Making Movies,' and that book actually gave me the confidence to direct. So this was coming full circle, 10 years later, into the master's program, with the master.

I don't think a lot of actors talk about it, but there's usually a process where you essentially purge yourself of the character that you played prior to the movie.

If you take my performance or my understanding of the role and my appreciation for story and then dress it in CGI, that I guess becomes an action film.

We all deal with being unfairly judged.

You know when something feels so good but you're afraid to feel good about it? So you kinda hold back? Everyone says, Congratulations, you must be so happy. And you say something stupid like, I'm just doing what little I can with what little I have.