“I’m probably a good boyfriend, but I’m pretty intense. When you’re with me it’s exciting, fun and very intense. At the same time, I’m easy going. But all that depends on what girl I’m with.”

I don’t care much about the money at all. Frankly, if I get the chance to kiss someone in a movie, they wouldn’t need to pay me at all.

I know you can be up one minute and drop the next, so I’m trying to maintain a steady course so I can have some longevity.

I crave working on those small independent movies because I love going to see those myself.

A big part of what I wanted to do with this character was go from when I was a boy and try and develop into a man, really try and play him as a man who is on this search, on a journey of personal, spiritual, political, social discovery.

Failure is simply the non-presence of success. But a fiasco is a disaster of mythic proportions.

I’m trying to mix the cool, independent stuff with the big stuff, but it’s been difficult finding the right roles. It’s been an interesting ride as far as my career pendulum is concerned

I trained for three years at drama school to be an actor – not a celebrity.

I’m always amazed at anyone’s interest in what I have to say.

The thing about fame, is you never think it’s going to happen to you. So when it does, it’s sort of a shock. Some people are just better at it than others.

Creativity is the key for any child with dyslexia, or for anyone for that matter. Then you can think outside of the box. Teach them anything is attainable. Let them run with what you see is whatever they need to run with.

I did send a girl a plane ticket asking her for a visit, I guess that’s quite romantic.

I feel really privileged to be an actor, to be paid to do something I love.

If life isn’t about human beings and living in harmony, then I don’t know what it’s about.

When I was nine, I had this girlfriend and we used to have running races in the park. I wanted to be like Superman and fly in and rescue her.

Whatever happens in life is fine – just trust in that.

I got to work with one of my heroes, Johnny Depp, and to see how he goes about business, which was really inspiring for me at this stage in my career.

Deep down, I’m pretty superficial.

Money doesn’t change you; it reveals who you are when you no longer have to be nice.

I don’t judge my characters, and that’s my job not to judge them. It’s my job to treat them with respect and to just look at it from their point of view.

My only obligation is to my characters. And they came from where I have been.

If I’m doing my job right, then I’m not writing the dialogue; the characters are saying the dialogue, and I’m just jotting it down.

Particularly as a writer, it is my job to ignore social critics, or the response that social critics might have when it comes to the opinions of my characters, the way they talk, or anything that can happen to them.

It is brave to be involved. To be not fearful to be unresolved.

I remember one time that I was filming a scene in which my character rides through Troy on a chariot. I just looked around at this incredible set thinking ‘This is the life’.