It�s just purely fantasy with me. I�m an untrained actor. Everyone thinks I�m trained, and I�ve done all the Shakespeare and all that stuff, but I really just invented myself as an actor and that�s how I work.

I was reading an Al Pacino interview one day, and he said this thing and I thought, "how flippant is that." He said, "Well, either the muse kicks in or it doesn�t." I was quite a bit younger and not as wise, and eager for it to be this big philosophical thing. It�s not. It�s in you, it�s actually in you, and you just have to let it come out. And that�s fine.

I�m a believer that as an actor, my job, my pure job, is to create interest. All the other [skills], I mean, [without them] I wouldn�t get the job. It�s like a carpenter�s job isn�t to bang nails in, [but] if you can�t bang the nails in you wouldn�t be a carpenter. My job is to create interest, and the best way to create interest is to be interested in others. Because as a viewer you�re going, "what�s he got going on?"

[It�s not] the attention�s on me. The attention�s actually on the other person in the scene. [That] drags the lens to you. A little acting trick, that one. In life it�s a lot like that. In life we�re interested in the other person. That�s what you do when you�re talking to someone. You�re not going, "how am I going to say the next line." Obviously if you�re in a business meeting with someone you might have that going on.

An actor�s job is to create interest, so the audience goes with you. And the best way to create it is to be interested in someone else.