You have cocktails for 250,000 people when millions upon millions are sick.

I'm over there filming in South Africa now, and two in five are HIV-positive now. Not many people know that.

That's always something that's really important for an actor - to find an opportunity to do a scene where there is a moment like that, where you manage to connect with everyone.

It was quite a ride and very conflicting for me, too - to be nominated for an Oscar, to be straight and healthy, and to be getting all these accolades while these people around me were suffering and dying from AIDS.

Well, I always try to look at my characters as being better than I am. That's one of the reasons I guess I became an actor - because you get to create a persona that's bigger or better or more interesting than your own.

The really important things are said over cocktails and are never done.