I like a twisted sense of humour. On 'A History of Violence,' David Cronenberg and I would be doing the grimmest scenes and laugh a lot.

[(Entertainment Weekly) -- Anyone who has seen the attention-grabbing trailer for] A History of Violence, ... Aragorn: No More Mister Nice Guy.

There's no sense in doing something, especially if it's a hard job, if you can't have a little fun.

In a lot of ways, I envy someone like Omar Sharif who lived in a hotel for decades.

When I make a movie, I don't break it down and analyze it. I could but it would get in the way of doing a job - on instinct based on all the research we did going in. you want to trust yourself and your director and your acting partners in the circumstances you're shooting. I don't like to have any kind of overview.

I suppose a good director is like a teacher. I think that someone like David Cronenberg was very much like a teacher, because there's an openness, but a certain set of rules of behavior, and a certain conduct expected. But there's an atmosphere that's relaxed and conducive to exploration, and that is created by someone like Cronenberg.