“Stallone is a pretty tough director. You don’t mess with him.”

I think the energy I give off is quite non-confrontational. That’s something you learn from karate. Once you try to be a tough guy, you’ve got to pay up. You’ve got to prove yourself. And that’s exhausting.

I prefer to channel my problems and inner demons through a character. Another persona. That protects me and my family. I can get my frustrations out that way.

My problem is that people get intimidated by someone big and beautiful like me. They hate to think I can be smart as well.

Your body’s made to run, to walk, to trek long distances and carry things, work in a forest, and hunt animals. You have to keep it alive to function.

I used to play drums when I was a kid, play the trombone.

I discovered martial arts, first judo and then karate.

If I need to bulk up for a role, I will do more weights. If I need to slim down for something, I will do more cardio. That’s usually how it goes.

I think by planning an exercise regime, your diet follows to some extent.

My sensei was a British karate champion named Brian Fitkin. He was my mentor and because I had a hard relationship with my dad, he became a father figure to me.

Nicolas Cage is a great actor and he’s done some good action movies too.

At least once a week, I try to have one day where I have nothing planned so I can get up and just go back to bed and lay around and recharge my batteries.

When I started studying acting in New York, I didn’t plan to be an action hero. I just wanted to learn acting because I felt it was something I needed to try to do for myself, to express something, my inner pain, or something I couldn’t get out.

When I got cast in ‘Rocky IV,’ I had never seen a film camera before. And here I was in this boxing movie.

I’ve drank more beer and pissed more blood and banged more women than all you numb nuts put together!

I train about four or five times a week. I guess I am addicted to it. I also do a lot of martial arts. More than I have done in awhile. I like to go back to martial arts because it makes me feel good.

The acting style that has emerged from HD, because of the contrast and how sharp the picture is, it’s more neutrally played. The main character is very minamalistic. That’s what works in this digital age.

Laughter is, above all, a corrective. Being intended to humiliate, it must make a painful impression on the person against whom it is directed. By laughter, society avenges itself for the liberties taken with it. It would fail in its object if it bore the stamp of sympathy or kindness.

Some of my best experiences are with writer/directors. Guy Ritchie is one. I feel they have a clearer view of what they want to do. They haven’t got to try and interpret someone’s writing; it’s all theirs. I really admire that.

I trust work, directors – I don’t live in fear. All good experiences have come from trusting the universe. There is no other way to live or love. Otherwise, you create your own prison.

You’ve got to be flexible. Directors do a massive amount of planning and homework, and if after all that your director decides to throw it all out of the window and shoot spontaneously, then you must follow his lead.

I think filmmaking should be a wonderfully free collaborative process, and it so very rarely is. I often see directors as jailers of my talent.

Nowadays, there are seven music directors in one film. I had never heard of such a thing before. If one of our old music directors was told to share a score with others, he would have left the assignment.

Being a good director is knowing sometimes when not to say something.

If you’re a movie actor, you’re on your own – you cannot control the stage. The director controls it.