Paul Giamatti

I don't consider myself a very interesting person. I have the mentality of a supporting actor.

Acting can be a really silly thing. It's like playing dress-up.

I want to be a villain with steel hands or something. I want to be the crazy, world-domination-obsessed villain. I would love to be a Bond villain.

Do you know Don Coscarelli? 'Bubba Ho-Tep?' That's one of my favorite movies in the world. And I love the 'Phantasm' movies.

I worked with J. T. Walsh - it was one of the best experiences I ever had - a fantastic actor and a great guy. I was in the last movie that he did: 'The Negotiator.' He died a couple of months after that. He was great.

I was never the class clown or put on shows at home. I never thought of acting as something I could do with my life. When I was a kid, I used to run around wrapped in toilet paper so I could be the Mummy. But that wasn't a sign that I was dreaming of being an actor. I was just an odd child.

Now, actors get so familiarized with Eastern Europe. I never imagined I'd get as familiar with Budapest and Prague and places like that in my life.

My father died in 1989 before I knew what I was going to do with my life. I had just graduated from college. My mother died just before 'Sideways' came out. She knew I was an actor, but she never saw me become successful.

Religion features more now in my life than it did when I was a kid - my dad rejected the Catholic church as a young man. I had no religious upbringing, but certainly, Dad was a kind of secular humanist. I don't know if he was an atheist or agnostic. I regret I didn't talk to him about it.

I try to avoid people as much as possible. They might change my life!

Academia is a rarified culture, especially an Ivy League academic background.

This whole business feels kind of intense, like a bad fit. Round peg, square hole. But whatever, I'll take it.