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I have an immense amount of respect for acting. I've always loved movies and was always fascinated by movie-making. But to become an actor, I wanted to commit myself.

I didn't start out thinking that I could ever make films. I started out being a film lover, loving films, and wanting to have a job that put me close to them and close to filmmakers and close to film sets.

Making films has never just been a job to me; it is my life. I have some interests outside of acting - I sing and I've written books, for instance - but acting is what keeps me going: it's what I do; it gives life purpose.

I don't want to limit myself. I want to keep doing all sorts of roles. I guess what lies behind this urge is the conviction that movies have changed my life. And certain performances have inspired me to try to be someone different.

I went to film school at Columbia and did that for a couple years and really thought I was going to be a filmmaker, and then I kind of drifted over to the acting side after that. I'd been an actor in high school, and when I got to college, it was all about film.

I was very insecure approaching the idea of directing a feature film. I told myself I would not move until I felt I was moving in power rather than moving in desperation to make a movie.

Directing a film was something I always wanted to do, something that seemed an inevitability in my development as an actor.

I came to filmmaking because it's my passion. I decided I can't have it distorted or marred by someone else deciding what it should be.