“I want the audience to watch my films, and that is what I value more than any awards.”

I am an actor, and I would like to reinvent myself through every character that I portray.

My father hasn’t backed me in any way, and I don’t think anybody has backed me.

There are two kinds of films: the ones that are devoid of logic but can still hijack the audience, and those that can win them over with logic. Both kinds can succeed, and I like to work in both.

I think everything is temporary.

Failure affects me hard.

It is easier to produce a film on your own than convincing another person to come on board.

If I had my way, I want to do 15 films in a year, but I have realised I cannot physically do that.

I have been fortunate to collaborate with people who have been open to discussion. If I tell them something, they have always explained to me why they want it the other way.

Let me make something clear: I can’t do anything in particular to make others laugh. I do what is necessary for a character. The body language of the character may make others laugh.

The less people know about you, the more you understand how beautiful life is. It’s good when you exist only on screen. I don’t want them to take me home. I love to have my privacy.

What I look for in a project is whether the storyline excites me.

I never wanted to be an actor but ended up being one.

Roles don’t fascinate me. It is the narrative, the screenplay that is fascinating.

If I do a film, I go to the place where it is based on, interact with people, and then, I believe, you pick up things without you even noticing.

It feels good to hear good things about yourself.

When you are talking about human emotions, stardom doesn’t matter.

The audience has always been my best director.

I want to grow up, live my life, experience things, make movies about those experiences and by the time the audience catches up.

I see them in my audience all the time, with the fur coat, a woman whose hand is always out front, or the two fingers are on the cheek to show her diamond. I don’t have anything against that.

At male strip shows, it is still the women that we watch, the audience of women and their eager faces. They are more obscene than if they were dancing naked themselves.

I mean, it’s gotten to be really stretched out now. It was never my intention to say, this is the demographics of our audience.

I’m definitely guilty of thinking something is funny but thinking the audience won’t. Then three years later I will finally try it and it’ll kill them. I got to give them more credit.

I like trying to do things which work on many levels, because I think it is terribly important to give an audience a lot of things they might not get as well as those they will.

My son says I never tell stories about anyone who’s living.