I have profound respect for Sacha Baron Cohen, but Borat is not a particularly comfortable movie for me to sit through.
I had envisioned doing comedy since childhood. For sure.
I love travel. I love to go spend time in new places. And even though I got horribly sick in Thailand, and it was the sickest I may have ever been in my life, I still loved the trip.
This may come as a surprise, given the nature of my job, but I am very guarded and contemplative. I’m not a naturally boisterous person.
When you’re playing a fictional character reacting to the real world, it’s incredibly difficult and confusing and kind of messes with your values a bit.
I loved the show Lost, in part because the writers were so nimble in how they would take things from previous episodes, that probably weren’t created with any intent towards a larger narrative, and they would get woven into narratives in a really elegant and exciting way.
Probably my favorite thing about watching a movie that I’m in the first time is to see all the things I didn’t know were happening in a scene around me.
With the tiger you’re always on edge, and you always have to keep your distance. The monkey is far less threatening so you’re more relaxed around the monkey, and I think that’s actually hazardous.
There is something beautiful in the mundane if you take enough microscope to it and focus in on something that seems innocuous to begin with.
I’ve always been into toys and kits and models. I’m kind of a toy nerd.
As a hobbyist, there’s something about miniature anything that captures my imagination.
Whenever I’ve messed around with radio-controlled things, there’s always been a part of me that’s thought, I wonder if there might actually be a little guy piloting these vehicles.
People who grew up in New York City or Los Angeles tend not to even understand what goes on in the rest of the country. I’m really glad to have grown up in an environment where I actually was kind of a weirdo because I was obsessed with comedy and movies and stuff.
I’ve been to Indonesia, but I’ve never been to Thailand. I hear the people are lovely, the food is delicious, and that the heat and humidity are lethal.
I’m sure I cause just as much consternation for editors as any other actor, but it definitely makes me feel more comfortable understanding how and why all the different camera setups exist.
As an actor, you can really play the intensity and gravity and seriousness of the moment, and just rely on the circumstances being funny. The joke is kind of the situation you’re in, or the way you’re reacting to something, as opposed to the characters just saying something witty.
That’s actually a rare thing to be on a set full of people that you admire and make you laugh all the time.
Getting any movie made is just like trying to push a giant boulder up a mountain, and there’s so many moving parts. Obviously, there’s the creative side, and then there’s the logistical side, and they’re both colossal.
Improvisation is about finding the best joke or the silliest way to get something across. Improvising conflict is always fun because you can just go for it.
I lived in New York for 10 years, I loved it, I never second-guessed it. There were definitely times when I thought, “I will never leave this place.” And I kind of got into that center-of-the-universe mindset.