The rest of the world understands little about China's changes and the possibilities and crises that come with them.
I've done lots of films with first directors, so it's not unusual for me.
Nudes are the greatest to paint. Everything you can find in a landscape or a still life or anything else is there: darkness and light, character dimension, texture. I painted heads too, of course.
Films don't take as long as people think. 'Harry Potter,' people always used to say, 'Well, my God, do you ever get any time to yourself?' I think I did, in 'Harry Potter,' over a 12 year period I did five days. So it's not exactly exhausting.
There is always a better choice that you were unable to quite touch with a single stroke. Even in acting, there comes a point, like a painting, where you have to say, "That's it. I can't go any further with it. " And sometimes, you say, "I'm really pleased that that's where it's finished up. " Other times, you think, "I don't think I really quite got there, but I haven't got time to go any further. " Rather reluctantly, you have to say "That's it. "
Very, very broadly speaking, you can put directors into two areas: One for whom you work, and the other with whom you work. And I prefer the latter, for obvious reasons. It's a great relief to feel that you're working with someone rather than for someone. You don't feel that you're being tested, as it were.
When you're really working well with a director then you can be as outrageous as you like and so can he. And there's no worry about it.
Every artist obviously wants to sell a million records and do the MTV cribs thing, but I'm realistic.
When you start, it's very cold, an impossible task. But then maybe the characters start to take on a little bit of life, or the story takes a turn that you don't expect. . . With me that happens a lot because I don't outline, I just have a vague notion. So it's always felt like less of a made thing and more of a found thing. That's exciting. That's a thrill.
I was a film-directing major at NYU. I'm still not sure why I became a directing major, when I was really an actor and a comedian, but there was something that drew me to doing that.
Open borders and the never-ending parade of illegal immigrants does nothing to build the national economy or the American culture.