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I had always studied French and was obsessed with French films. I hated the way American films always had happy endings. I liked the way French films had dark and unpleasant characters; it was much more realistic.

What I think I'm perceived as in France is, like, I'm this leading man always doing strange movies because most of the movies I did, like 'Irreversible' or 'Brotherhood of the Wolf' and a bunch of others, and even in France, they always come out as a particular movie, not like the typical French kind of movies that people know most of the time.

One of my favourite films is called 'Lacombe Lucien,' directed by Louis Malle. The lead character in that film, like the lead characters in many '70s and '80s films, has a moral ambiguity to him.

My favourite film is 'Le Diner de Cons,' a French movie.

I like the idea of a character that you wanna like even though you know he's making immoral choices throughout the film.

I'm a huge fan of Richard Curtis - there's real grief, real compassion in his films as well as cheekiness; it's a wonderful cocktail.

I love shooting French films because I don't have to stick with being sophisticated or stuck-up.

I don't really have anything against the French except that, as an American, I've been bred to despise them with the same zeal as soccer and Renny Harlin films.

When I was young, I had a favorite movie star. One day, I saw one of his movies, and it was bad, and he was bad in it. I could tell he didn't care and only did it for the money. I felt betrayed. I never watched another one of his movies again.

The films that I do tend to polarise people's views.