I think I'm drawn to characters with complexity or who are under duress in some way and have some conflict going on.

I do strive to find projects that are trying to carve out some new space. I enjoy projects that leap away from the crowd a little bit.

It's sort of a meat market, the whole awards thing, and I don't think you can predict it anymore - who's going to like what you've done, if it's worthy or not. And hopefully, that's not why you make a film, because if you're distracted by that, or only striving for that, you don't do it justice.

If you're very open to watching the world go by, with people's different tics, you absorb it all without realizing it and find ways to put something into your character. I'm not sure I'm always aware I'm mimicking someone.

I think the philosophy that you have to have if you travel frequently is, stuff is just stuff. Even if it has some sentimental or family connection, if you lose it in the world, it's still just a thing, and I think if you don't have that attitude, you will get incredibly stressed out and not enjoy your travels.

I have friends that are much better actors than I am that had to quit the business because they couldn't survive the auditions or the rejections, or people just didn't realize how good they were.

In the future, the idea would be to create work for myself, as a way to work up into my 80s if nothing else. But also, I want to cast my friends in things or people I saw who weren't working and I'd be like, 'Why aren't you working, I don't understand - I'll write you a role in something.'

Had I not stepped into the saddle in the first place, entire cultures, histories, and most importantly, profound connections with people and animals whom I now counted as my friends would have otherwise passed by, invisible.