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I know why people lie to themselves in life, but I'll never understand the appeal of the dishonest theater where the actor doesn't make some earnest attempt to include their own honest humanity in their collaboration with an author. It's so ugly to me that it hurts sometimes to see it happen.

People see truth in my films. That's what they react to, and that's what they relate to.

I've said before that the common perception that all good actors should be good liars is exactly the opposite; only bad actors lie when they act.

In the best stories, people are morally complex; they are flawed. We read them because the world is flawed, and we want to see it truthfully represented. And because it can be thrilling to be shocked and upset, and even to feel, for chilling moments, what it's like to be a bad person.

In a movie we try to deceive. In theaters, as they say, the deceived are the wisest.

I think that truth is stranger than fiction, and it's nice to know the people you're making a movie about.

It's very difficult to judge yourself. Extreme self-doubt is only attractive when it's fictionalized. Which is why people love the movies. They are so reassuring.

People are surprised when Hollywood characters act the way a real person would.

Hollywood's built on insecurity. People are trying to prove things. And I probably have that. I probably do. Probably guilty of it, in a way.

I think you can tell when someone is being dishonest as an actor.