My career is based primarily upon finding a balance with a director and their vision, and that means sublimating my own personal ego toward their material.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
When I give over to somebody's vision rather than have an idea of what I need to do, it takes me to places I wouldn't have got to by myself. I'm always attracted to a strong director.
Sometimes I get insecure about being a real director because I look at the great directors, and they have such command. But maybe that keeps me critical of myself. Maybe it keeps me moving forward.
When you work with a great director, you realise you are far from being a director.
When I'm a director, I look at myself the actor as a completely different person. It's somebody else up there, an actor playing a role. I keep myself out of it.
I surrender to my directors. I do that because I respect them immensely. In fact, a director's talent scares me. I admit that they're more intelligent than me, and I submit to that, as an assistant director does. Even when I have suggestions to make, I don't state them strongly.
I think when you work with really wonderful directors who have a really strong vision, it lets you as an artist set the tone for your own career.
I'm very ambitious. I live in reality but I have dreams I want to fulfill - I want to be a director, and I've already started my own production company. But I also have a measure of success that I keep to myself. It's something very personal to me.
My career aspirations as an actor have always been driven foremost by the creative desire to be versatile.
Back when I used to struggle with how I could define myself in the film business, I knew that I'd always remain true to myself and what I wanted to accomplish. The style of action I showcase is quite different from other stars we usually see, but I'm remaining true to myself, and hopefully this comes across.
If you're a director, your entire livelihood and your entire creativity is based on your self-confidence. Sometimes that's dangerously close to arrogance.